i 

i 





-M-- %/ :M 



\ 








■;/: 

TREATISE 

ON THE 

SITUATION, MANNERS, AND INHABITANTS, 

OF 

GER31ANY; 

AND 

THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA ; 

BY 

C. CORNELIUS TACITUS: 

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH 

BY JOHN AIKIN. 

WITH COPIOUS NOTES. 



PRINTED FOR GRANT, 

SOLD BY J. GRANT, OXFORD ; AND T. k J. ALLMAN^ 
PRINCES STREET, HANOVER SQUARE, LONDON, 

1823, 



PREFACE. 



A SMALL volume which I offered 
some time ago to the public, consisting 
of Tacitus's Life of Agricola^ in the 
original and in an English translation, 
was principally designed to furnish youth, 
either at a place of education, or in 
their private studies, with an agreeabk 
specimen of that excellent author, in a 
form which might encourage them to 
commence an acquaintance with his 
works. The attempt was honoured 
with a reception which produced a 
demand for a republication. But, in the 
mean time, the admirable edition of 
Tacitus lately published at Paris by 



ir 



PREFACE. 



M, Brotier^ falling into my hands, I 
was led to consider the subject in a 
different view ; and could not but wish 
to make such use of the valuable ma- 
terials before me, as might adapt my 
translation to the purposes of a higher 
class of readers. Upon this plan, I 
thought it would be unnecessary to 
reprint the Latin ; and that its place 
might be advantageously supplied by 
adding another piece of the same author, 
equally detached and complete with the 
Life of Agricola^ and perhaps still more 
instructive and interesting. The Trea- 
tise on the JUanners of the Germans 
has ever been esteemed as one of the 
most precious relics of the political or 
historical writings of antiquity ; and by 
the course of events has been rendered 

* In Four Volumes 4to; The first edition is 
dated 1771. 



PREFACE T 

more important to modern times than its 
author probably expected, who conld 
scarcely foresee that the government, 
policy, and manners of the most civilized 
parts of the globe, were to originate from 
the woods and desarts of Germany. It 
is unnecessary to enlarge upon the merits 
of a work, the great value and authority 
of which are sufficiently manifested by 
the use which some of the most eminent 
modern writers have made of it, A defect 
under which it labours is, that the con- 
ciseness both of matter and style which 
characterizes its author, prevails in it to^ 
such a degree as to render in many 
places either the sense less clear, or the 
information less perfect than might have 
been wished. No part of Tacitus, there- 
fore, stood so much in need of a learned 
and judicious commentator ; and such an 
one in the fullest extent it has found in 
M. Brotier^ from whose excellent notes 
b 



PREFACE, 



I have liberally borrowed whatever 
seemed necessary as an explanation, or 
useful as an illustration of the text. 

Still further convinced of the pre- 
ference due to close and accurate trans- 
lation, whenever the njatter of the 
original is singular or important, I 
have aimed at nothing so much as 
clearly and precisely to reflect the 
author's meaning. The Treatise on 
Germant/y indeed, from the nature 
of its subject effectually precluded any 
attempts at ornamental language or har- 
monious period. And even in the more 
rhetorical Life of Jlgricola^ accuracy 
appeared to me of so much greater 
importance than the elegant flow of a 
sentence, that in order to obtain it I 
have very frequently deviated from my 
former translation. So numerous, indeed^ 
are the alterations, that the correctness, 
of my first attempt will probably be 



PREFACE. 



much impeached by them. For this 
deficiency, the only apology I have to 
offer is the want at that time of such an 
edition as M. Brotier^s, which, besides 
its many ingenious comments on dif- 
ficult passages, suggests several happy 
emendations of the mutilated text. 

The reiider will please to observe that 
all the notes to both treatises are ex- 
tracted from M. Brotier, except a few^ 
to which a particular signature is an«^ 
pexed. 



! 

I 
f 

> 

\ 

\ 
I 

i 



i 

J 



A 

TREATISE 

ON THE 

SITUATION, JfANNERS, AND INHABITANTS 

OF 

GERMANY'. . 



Germany ' is separated from Gaul, 
Raetia% and Pannonia% by the rivers Rhine 
and Danube ; from Sarmatia and Dacia, 
by mountains and mutual dread. The 
rest is surrounded by an ocean, forming 
extensive bays, and including vast insular 

' This Treatise was written in the year of Rome 
8&1, and in that from the birth of Christ 98; during 
the fourth consulate of the emperor Nerva, and the 
third of Trajan. 

2 The Germany here meant is that beyond the Rhine. 
The Germania Cisrhenana, divided into the Upper and 
Lower, was a part of Gallia Belgica. 

^ Rsetia comprehended the country of the Grisons, 
with part of Suabia and Bavaria. 

* Lower Hungary ^ and part of Austria, 

^ The Crapack mountains in Upper Hungary^ 
JB 



2 -MANNERS OF THE GERMANS^ 



^tracts% in which our military expeditions 
have lately discovered various nations and 
kingdoms \ The Rhine, issaing from the 
inaccessible and precipitous summit of the 
Raetic Alps % after a moderate flexure to 
fhe West, flows into the Northeru Ocean. 
The Danube, poured from the easy and 
cgentle elevation of the mountain A bnoba % 

^ St andinavi a an d F'inl cm c? , df vvh i cli t h'e R o rn a n s 
^liad a very slight knowledge, were supposed to be 
^islands, 

^ This circumstance is well illustrated by an inscrip- 
ction on a monument now extant at Ponte Lugano near 
Trivoliy of Plautius iElianus, proprietor of Maesia, who 
is mentioned as having " brought over and made tri- 
butary above 100,000 of the Transdanubians, with 
their wives, children, chiefs, and kings; repressed a 
/beginning revolt of the Sarmatians ; inftueuced cer- 
tain kings, before unknown or hostile to the Roman 
people, to adore the Roman standards on the bank 
which he guarded ; restored to the kings of the 
Bastanise and Rhoxolani their sons, to those of the 
Dacians their brothers, taken prisoners or carried oiF 
bj their enemies ; received hostages from others, by 
whose means he had secured and promoted fhe peace 
'«« of fhe province." 

8 The mountains of the Grlsons, That in which the 
.■Rhine Tises is at present called Fogelberg, 

^ Now called Schwariz-wald, or the Black Forest, 
Comit Marsili, inl702, traced the origin of the Danube, 
•^diich had long been uuknowiij to this place* The 



3MNNERS OF THE GERMANS,. 



"visits several nations in its course, till at 
leng-th it disemboo;"iies bv six channels into 
the Pontic Sea. ' : a seventh is swallowed 
up in marshes. 

I should imagine that the people of 
Germany are indigenous % without having 
received any mixture from the emigrations 
or visits of foreigners For the emigrants 

lower part of the Danube was auci£ntly called Tster ; 
which name, accordin^r to Pliny, was applied to the river 
as soon as it reached Illyricuu>. 

^ Now the Black Sea. A Jesuit, in a letter fron^ 
Constantinople written in 1713, relates, that the current 
of the Danube, distinguished by its peculiar colour^ 
flows from the Black Sea quite to the Mediterranean, 
so that ships in entering the sea of 3Iannora from the 
Archipelago, have the full stream of the river against 
llieni. Something similar is mentioned by Pliny, 
L. iv^ 12. who says, that "each of the mouths of the 

Danube is so large, that the sea is overpowered by 
" the river for the space of forty miles, and tastes sweet.'* 

* The ancient writers called all nations indigenous^ 
and as it were sprung from the earth, of whose origin, 
they were ignorant. Increased knowledge, and parti- 
cularly the more accurate investigation of different lan- 
guages, has taught the moderns better : and all the 
learned now agree, that the Germans are of Scythian, 
derivation. 

^ Tacitus himself, on the other hand, in this Trea- 
tise, mentions the d'auls, Gothini, and Osi as foreigners. 
The learned In Germany, however, suppose that the 

11 2 



4 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS^. 



of former ages performed their expeditions 
not by land, but by water ^; and that im- 
mense, and, if I may so call it, hostile ocean, 
is rarely navigated by ships from ©ur world 
Then, besides the dangers of a boisterous 
arid unknown sea, who would relinquish 
Asia, Afinca, or Italy, to settle in Germany ; 
a land rude in its surface, rigorous in its 
climate, cheerless to the beholder and cul- 
tivator, unless it were his native country ? 
In their ancient songs^^ which are their only 
records or annals, they celebrate the god 

Germans were by no means mixed with these visitors 
and emigrants, but always kept the national rights 
within themselves, and considered the others only as a 
sort of aliens. 

* On the contrary, the first emigrations were by land ; 
and it was not till the arts had made considerable progress, 
thatnationsembarkedin fleets in search ofnewseltlements,. 

^ Drusus, father of the emperor Claudius, was tne 
first Roman general who navigated the German Ocea-i. 
The difiicultiete and dangers which Germanicus met 
with from the storms of this sea, are related in Tacitus'^ 
Annals, ii. 23. 

s All barbarous nations, in all ages, have applied 
verse to the same use, as is still found to be the case 
among the N. American Indians. Charlemagne, as we 
are told by Eginhart, "wrote out and committed to 
memory barbarous verses of great antiquity, in which 
the acf^ons and wars of ancient kiuj^s were recorded,'' 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 5 



Tuisto % sprung from the earth, and his 
son Mannus, as the fathers and founders of 
their race. To Mannus they ascribe three 
sons, from whose names ' the people bor- 
dering on the ocean are called Ingaevones ; 
those inhabiting the central parts, Her- 
miones ; the rest, Istaevones. Some % how- 
ever, assuming the licence of antiquity, 
affirm, that there were more descendants of 

^ The learned Leibnitz supposes this Tuisto to have 
been the Teut or Teutates so famous throughout Gaul 
and Spain, who was a Celto-Scythian king or hero^ and 
subdued and civilized a great part of Europe and Asia, 
Various other conjectures have been formed concerning 
him and his son Mannus, but most of them extremely- 
vague and improbable. Among the rest^ it has been 
thought that in Mannus and his three sons an obscure 
tradition is preserved of Adam, and his sons Cain, Abel, 
and Seth ; or of Noah, and his sons Shero, Ham, and 
Japhet. 

® Conringius intrerprets the names of the sons of 
Mannus into Ingaff, Istaf, and Hermin. 

^ Pliny, iv. 14. embraces a middle opinion between 
these, and mentions five capital tribes. The Vindili, to 
whom belong the Burgundiones, Varini, Carini, and 
Guttones ; the Ingaevones, including the Cimbri,Teutoni, 
and Chauci ; the Istaevones, near the Rliine, part of 
whom are the midland Cimbri ; the Hermiones, con- 
taining the Suevi, Hermunduri, Catti, and Cherusci ; 
and the Peucini and Bastarnee, bordering upon the 
Daciaus. 

B 3 



6 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



the god, from whom more appellations 
were derived ; as those of the Marsi, Gam- 
brivii, Suevi^and Vandali ' ; and that these 
are the genuine and original names \ — 
That of Germany, on the other hand, they 
assert to be modern, and lately applied ^ : — ■ 
for that those who first crossed the Rhine, 
and expelled the Gauls, and are now called 
Tungri, were then named Germans ; which 
appellation qti a particular tribe, not of a 
whole people, gradually prevailed ; so that 
the title of Germans, first assumed bv the 
victors in order to excite terror, was after- . 

^ The Vindili of Pliny. These are they who carried 
terrar into Gaul, Spain, Africa, and Italy, and were at 
length cut off in Africa, Of the above names, that of 
the Suevi is the only one now remaining. 

« That is, those of the Marsi, Gambrivii, &c. Those 
of Ingaevones, Istaevones, and Hermiones, were not so 
much names of the people, as terms expressing their 
situation. For, according to the most learned Germans, 
the Ingsevones aretfie Jw«?;oAwer, those dwelling inwards, 
towards the sea ; the Istaevones, die Vestvohner^ the 
inhabitants of the western parts ; and the Hermiones, 
die Herrunivohneri the midland inhabitants. 

3 It is however found in an inscription so far back 
as the year of Rome 531, before Christ 222, recording 
the victory of Claudius Marcellus over the Galli Insu- 
bres, and their allies the Germans, at Clastidium, now 
Chiastezzo in the Milanese. 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



7 



wards adopted by the nation in general 
They have likewise the tradition of a Her- 
cules ' of their country ; whose praises they 
sing before those of all other heroes as they 
advance to battle. 

A peculiar kind of verses are also cur- 
rent among them, by the recital of which, 
termed harding\ they stimulate their 

* This is illustrated by a passag-e in Casar, Bell, 
Gall, ii. 4. where, after mentioning that several of the 
Belgae were descended from the Germans who had for- 
merly crossed the Rhine and expelled the Gauls, he 
says, the first of these emigrants were the Condrusii, 
Eburones, Coeresi, and Potmani, who were called by the 
common name of Germans.'* The derivative of Ger- 
man is JVehr mann, a warrior, or ma.i of war. This 
appellation was first used by the victorious Cisrhenane 
tribes, but not by the whole Transrhenane nation, till 
they gradually adopted it, as equally due to them on 
account of their military reputation. The Tungri were 
formerly a people of great name, the relics of which siill 
exist in the extent of the district now termed the ancient 
diocese of Tongres, 

5 Almost every warlike nation has had its Herculesj 
or person famous for bodily strength and great exploits, 
of whom it has boasted. Some learned men, too, 
suppose, that the leaders of those Asiatic colonies which 
occupied the various countries of Europe, had all the 
common appellation of Hercules. 

^ This term is supposed to be expressive of the bel- 
lowing of tbe stag, an animal familiar to the German 



8 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



courage ; while the sound itself servies as 
an augury of the event of the impending 
combat. For according to the nature of 
the cry proceeding from the hne, terror is 
inspired or felt : nor does it seem so much 
a musical exercise, as the chorus of valour, 
A harsh, piercing note, and a broken mur- 
mur, are chiefly effected ; which they render 
more full and sonorous by applying their 
mouths to their shields Some imagine 

and Gallic hunters. Hence is derived the word Bard, 
the minstrels of those people, who recited their verses 
in a tone resembling that noise. These celebrated per- 
sonages are finely commemorated by Lucan, in the 
following passage. 

Vos quoque, qui forf eg animas, belloque peremptos, 
Laiidibus in longiim vates dimittitis aevum, 
Plurima securi fudistis carmina Bardi. 

Lib. i. 447. 

You too, ye Bards! whom sacred raptures fire, 
To cbaunt your heroes to your country's lyre j 
Who consecrate, in your immortal strain. 
Brave patriot-souls in righteous battle slain 5 
Securely now the tuneful task renew, 
And noblest themes in deathless songs pursue. 

ROWE. 

The North American war-whoop appears to be very 
similar to the ancient German battle-cry. 

7 In the following passage of the Life of Sir Ewen 
Cameron, Pennanfs Tour^ 1769, Append, p. 363, is a 
very curious coincidence with the ancient German 
opinion concerning the prophetic aature of the war-cry 



3IANNERS OF THE GERMANS. S 



that Ulj sses, in the course of his long and 
fabulous wanderings, was driven into this 
ocean, and landed in Germany ; and that 
Asciburgium \ a place situated on the 
Rhine, and at this day inhabited, was 
founded by him, and named 
They pretend that an altar was formerly 
discovered here, consecrated to Ulysses^^ 
with the name of his father Laertes sub- 

or song. At the battle of Killicrankie, just before the 

fight begun, he (Sir Ewen) commanded such of the 
Camerons as were posted near him to make a great 
shout, which being seconded by those who stood on 
the right and left, run quickly throiigh the whole 
army, and was returned by the enemy. But the 

** noise of the muskets and cannon, with the echoing 
of the hills, made the Highlanders fancy that their 
shouts were much louder and brisker than those of 

" the enemy ; and Lochiel cried out, ' Gentlemen^ 
take courage, the day is our*s r I am the oldest com- 
mander in the army, and have always observed 
something ominous and fatal in such adull, hollow, and 
feeble noise as the enemy made in their shout, which 
prognosticates that they are all doomed to die by our 
hands this night ; whereas our's was brisk, lively, and 

** strong, and shews we have vigour and courage.' 
These words spreading quickly through the army, 
animated the troops in a strange manner. The event 

" justined the prediction : the Highlanders obtained a 
complete victory.'' 

• Now Asburg in the county o{ Meurs^ 



10 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



joined ; and that certain monuments andl 
tombs, inscribed with Greek characters %. 
are still extant upon the confines of Ger-- 
many and R'cetia. These allegations I 
shall neither attempt to confirm nor to. 
refute : let every one believe concerning^ 
them as he is disposed.. 

I concur in opinion with those who sup- 
pose the Germans never fo have inter- 
Bjarried with other nations; but to be a 
people peculiar, unmixed, and resembling- 
one another alone. Hence the same con- 
stitution of body pervades thewhole^though 
their numbers are so great: — fierce blue 
eyes ; ruddy hair ; large bodies \ powerful 
in sudden exertions, but less firm under 

9 The Greeks, by means of their colony at Marseilles^ 
introduced their letters into Gaul, and the old Gallic 
coins have many Greek characters in their inscriptions. 
The Helvetians also, as we are informed by Caesar, 
used Greek letters. From thence they mig:ht easily 
pass by means of commercial intercourse to the. 
neighbouring Germans. Count Marsili and others have 
found monuments with Greek inscriptions in Germany, 
but not of so early an age,. 

1 The large bodies of the Germans are elsewhere^ 
take« notice of by Tacitus, and also by other authors. 
It would appear as if most of them were at that time 
at least six feet high. They are still accounted some of 
the tallest people in. Europe, 



5IAN1S'ERS OF THE GERMANS. 11 



-toil and labour, kast of all capable of sus- 
taining thirst and heat. Cold and hunger 
ihey are accustomed by their climate and 
-soil to endure. 

The land, fhoug-h somewhat varied in 
its a:spect5 is yet universally shagged ^vith 
forests, or deformed by marshes : moistei' 
on the side of Gaul, more exposed to wind 
on the side of Noricum and Pannonia 
It is sufficiently productive of grain, but 
unfavourable -to fruit trees'. It abounds 
in flocks and herds, but in general of a 
small breed. Even the beeve kind are des- 
titute of their usual stateliness and dionitv 
of head They are, however, numerous, 

Bavaria and -Austria. 
^ The greater degree of cold wlien the country Avas 
overspread with woods and marshes, made this obser- 
vation more applicable then, than at present. The 
■sa«ie change of temperature from clearing and draining 
the land, has taken pkce in North America. It may- 
be added, that the Germans, as we are afterwards in- 
formed, paid attention to no kind of culture but that of 
corn. 

* The cattle of some parts of Germany are at present 
remarkably large ; so that their former smallness must 
liave rather been owing to want of rare in feeding them 
and protecting them from the inclemencies of winter, 
and in improving the breed by mixtures, than to t]^ 
nature of the climate. 



1 

I 

12 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 

^nd form the most esteemed, and, indeed, 
the only species of wealth. Silver and 
gold, the gods, I know not whether in their 
indalgence or displeasure, have denied to 
this country \ Not that I would assert 
that no veins of these metals are sfenerated 
in Germany ; for who has made the search ? 
The people are not in the same manner 
affected towards the use and possession of 
them as we are. Vessels of silver are, in- 
deed, to be seen among them, which have 
been presented to their ambassadors and 
chiefs; but they are held in no higher 
estimation than earthenware. The bor- 
dererSj however, set a value on gold and 
liilver for the purposes of commerce, and 
have learned to distinguish several kinds 
of our coin, some of which they prefer to 
others : the remoter inhabitants continue 
the more simple and ancient usage of bar- 
tering commodities. The money preferred 
by the Germans is the old and well known 
species^ such as the Serrati and Bigati ^ 

* Mines both ol gold and silver have since been dis- 
covered in Germany ; the former, indeed, inconsidera- 
ble ; but the latter, valuable. 

^ As vice and corruption advanced among the Ro- 
mans, their money became debased and adulterated. 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 13 



They are also better pleased with silver 
than gold ^ ; not on account of any fond- 
ness for tliat metal, but because the smaller 
money is more convenient in their common 
and petty merchandize. 

Even iron is not plentiful ® among them ; 

Thas Pliny, L. xxxiii. 3: relates tbat Livius Drusus 
" during his tribunesbip mixed an eighth part of brass 
^ with the silver coin and, ibid. 9» " that Antony 
the triumvir mixed iron with the denarius : that some 
coined base metal, others diminished the pieces, and 
h^nce it became an art to prove the goodness of the 
denarii." One precaution for this purpose was cutting 
the edges like the teeth of a saw, by which means it 
was seen whether the metal was the same quite th roughs 
t)r was only plated. These were the Serrati, or serrated 
Denarii. The Bigati were those stamped with the 
figure of a chariot drawn by two horses, as were the 
Quadrigati with a chariot and four horses. These were 
old coin, of purer silver than those of the emperors. 
Hence the preference of the Germans to certain kinds of 
species was founded on their apprehension of being 
cheated with false money. 

7 The Romans had the same predilection for silver 
coin, and probably on the same account originally. 
Pliny, in the pla-ce above cited, expresses his surprise 
that the Roman people had always imposed a tribute 
in silver on conquered nations; us at the end of the 
second Punic war, when they demanded an annual 
" payment in silver for fifty years, without any gold,'* 

* Iron was in great abundance in the bowels of the 
earth ; but this barbarous people had neither patience 

C 



14 MANNERS OF THE GERM ANa 



as may b€ inferred from the rmture of theif 
i^^eapons. Swords or broad lances are 
seldom used ; but they generally carry a 
spear (called in their language^framea 
which has an iron point, short and narroWj 
but ^o sharp and manageable that, a,s occa- 
sion requires, they employ it either in close 
or distant fighting'. This spear and a 
shield are all the armour of the cavalry. 
The foot have, besides, missile weapons, 
^CFeral to each man, which they hurl to 
an immense distance''. They are either 

skill, Bor iiKluslry, to dig and work it. Besides, they 
fnade use of wefipons of sfome, great numbers of which 
are foond in ancient tombs and bariows. 

9 This is supposed to take its name from p/rim or 
priem^ the point of a weapoia. Afterwards, when iroa 
grew more plentiful, the Germans chiefly used swords. 

^ It appears, however, from Tacitus's Annals ^ ii. 14. 
i;hat the lenglh of these spears rendered th^m un- 
siianageable in an engagement among trees and bushes. 

2 NotwithstandiDg the manner of iighting is so miich 
clianged in modern tinies^ the arms of the ancients are 
fStill in Hse< We, as well as they, have two kinds of 
:swords, the sharp- poii'i ted, and edged f. small sword and 
rsabrejr The hroad subsists in the halberd ; the 
.spewr ^^vA framea in the long pike and spontoon ; the 
missile weapoi-if^; in the war hatchet, or North Americaa 
tomahawk. There are, besides, found in the old Ger- 
^nan barrows, perforated stone balls, which they threw hj 
^rie^iii; of thongs passed through them. 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



15 



Baked, or lightly covered with a sagiim^ 
and have no pride in equipage: their shields 
only are ornamented with the choicest 
colours \ Few are furnished with a coat 
of mail * ; and scarcely here and there one 
with a casque or helmet Their horses 
are neither remarkable for beauty nor 
swiftness, and are not taught the various 

^ This decoration at first denoted the valour, after- 
wards the nobility of the bearer ; and in process of time 
gave origin to the arn^orial ensigns so famous in the 
ages of chivalry. The shields of the private men were 
simply coloured ; those of the chieftains had the figures- 
of animals painted on them. 

'* Plutarch, in his life of Marius, describes somewhat 
differently the arms and equipage of the Cimbri. 
•* They wore (says he) helmets representing the heads 
" of wild beasts, and other unusual figures, and crowned 
♦* with a winged crest, to make them appear taller* 
** They were covered with iron coats of mail ; and car- 
" ried white glittering shields* Each had a battle axe ; 

and in close fight they used large heavy swords." 
But the learned Eccard justly observes, that they bad 
procured these arms in their march ; for the Holsatiaii 
harrows of that age contain few weapons of brass, and 
none of iron ; but stone spear-heads, and instead of 
swords, the wedge-like bodies vulgarly called thundcr- 
Uolts. 

* Casques f cassis J are of metal ; helmets fgakcj oi 
leather, Isidorus. 

c 2 



16 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



movements and rotations practised with 
us ^. The cavalry either bear down strait 
forwards, or wheel once to the right % in so 

^ The manner in whick the Roman horses were 
trained and taught the manage y is most beautifullj 
described by Virgil, in his third Georgic^ where the 
following lines give a lively idea of the complex move- 
ments alluded to by Tacitus.. 

Carpere mox gyrum incipiat, gradibusque soiaare 
Compositis, sinuetque alterna volumina cruruni, 
Sitque laboranti simiiis. 

L. 191. 

Teach him to run the ring, with pride to prance ; 
The plain in measured steps and time to beat, 
And in alternate paces shift his feet. 
Oft let him seem to spring with labonrM might. 

In this last line the translator has not, I thinks given m 
adequate interpretation of the ^'laboranti simiiis," which^ 
probably, refers to the laborious pacing motion between 
the pillars, in which the horse is made to lift his legs 
with great effort. J. A, 

^ Here is a difficulty which the commentators pass 
©rer without notice. That the cavalry should always 
wheel to the right is inconceivable, since in some po-. 
sitions this would make them present their rear, instead 
of their front, to the enemy. Possibly, the phrase 
♦*dextros agunt'* might be intended to signify the de^x^ 
terity with which they performed this single evolution ; 
since the compactness which they preserved in doiqg 
it, is immediately remarked^ J. A,. 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



17 



compact a body that none is left behind 
the rest. Their principal strength, on the 
whole, consists in their infantry : her>ce, in 
an engagement they are intermixed with 
the cavalry % with whom they are well 
qualified, from their agility, to act. For 
this purpose, a select body is drawn from 
the whole youth, and placed in the front of 
the line. The number of these is deter- 
mined ; a hundred from each canton * ; and 

* This mode of fighting is admirabi}' described by 
Caesar, " The Germans engaged after the following 
manner. There were 60C0 horse, and an equal ntJm* 
ber of the swiftest and bravest foot ; who were placed 
man by man, by the cavalry, for their protection. 
By these they were attended in battle ; to these they 
retreated ; and these, if they were hard pressed, 
joined them iii the combat. If any fell wounded 
** from their horses, by these they were covered. If it 
were necessary to advance or retreat to any considera- 
ble distance, such agility had they acquired by 
exercise, that supporting themselves by the horses 
manes, they kept pace with them.'' Bell, Gall.i, 48. 
5 To underetand this it is to be remarked, that the 
Germans were divi^led into nations or tribes ; these into. 
cantons ; and these into districts or toicnships. The 
cantons fpagi in Latin) were called by themselvts 
Goicen, The districts or townships { vici) were called 
JIunderie; whence the English Hundreds. The name 

€ 3 



IS MANNERS OF THE GERMANS, 



they are distinguished at home by a name 
expressive of this eircumstance ; so that 
what at first was only an appellation of 
number, becomes thenceforth a title of 
honour. Their line of battle is disposed 
in wedges*. To give ground, provided 
they rally again, is considered rather as a 
prudent stratagem, than cowardice. They 
carry off their slain even in dubious fights. 
The greatest disgrace that can befal 

ghrm to these select youth, according to the learned 
Pithmar, was die hunderte — hundred-men. From the 
following passage in Caesar it appears that in the more 
powerful tribes a greater number was selected from each 
canton. " The nation of the Suevi by far the greatest 

and most warlike of the Germans. They are said to 

inhabit a hundred cantons ; from each of which a 
^ thousand men are sent annually to make war out of 

their own territories. Thus neither the employments 
*' of agriculture, nor the use of arms are interrupted." 
Bell. GalL iv. 1. The warriors were summoned by 
the heribannumy or army-edict ; whence is derived the 
French arriere-ban, 

» A wedge is described by Vegetius (iii. 19.) as a 
body of infantry, narrow in front, and widening towards 
the rear, by which disposition they were enabled to. 
break the enemy's ranks, as all their weapons were 
directed to one spot. The soldiers called it a boar's 
head. 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 19 



them is to have quitted their shields A 
person branded with thh ignonimy is not 
permitted fo joiii in their religious rite^, or 
enter their assemblies ; so that many, after 
escaping from battle hare put an end to 
their infamy by tlie halter. 

In the election of kings they have regard 
to birth ; in that of military commanders % 
to valour. Their kings have not an abso- 

* It was also considered as the height of injury to 
€harg;e a|>erson with this unjustly. Thus by the Salic 
lawy tit. xxxiii. 5. a fine of 600 denarii (about £9.) 
is imposed upon " every free-man who shall accuse 
another of throwing* down his shield, and running away, 
withoBt being able to prove it." 

^ Vertot fMem. de V Acad, des hiscnp,] supposes 
that the French Maires du Palais had their origin 
from these Gern)an military leaders. If the kings 
were equally conspicuous for valour as for birth, they 
united the regal with the military command. Generally, 
however, several kings and generals were assembled ia 
their wars. In this case the most eminent commanded 
and obtained a common jurisdiction in war, which did 
not subsist in time of peace. ThusCsesar fBelL GalL 
vi.) says, ** in peace they have no common magistracy." 
A general was elected by placing him on a sliield, and 
lifting him on the shoulders of the bystanders. The 
same ceremonial was observed the election of kings> 



20 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



lote or unlimited power*; and their 
g-eoerals command less through the force 
of aothorify, than of example. If they are 
daring, adventurous, and conspicuous in 
action^ they procure obedience from the 
admiration they inspire. None, however^ 
but the priests * are permitted to chastise 
delinquents, to inflict bonds or stripes ; 
that it may appear not as a punishment, or 
in consequence of the generars order, but 
as the instigation of the god whom thej 
suppose present with warriors. They al^o 
carry with them to battle, images and 
standards taken from the sacred groves ' • 

* Hence Ambiorix, king of the Eburones, declared 
that ** the nature of his authoqty was such^ that the 
" people had no less power over him, than he over the 

people." C^sar BelL Gall. The authority of 
the North American chiefs is almost exactly similar, 

^ The power of life and death, however, was in the 
hands of Magisii'dle«. Thus Caesar: " wht^n a state 

engages eithe r iij dn offensive or defensive war, niagis- 
" trates are f ho^eo to preside over it, and exercise 

power oT ^ ^ death." BelL Gall, vi. The in- 
fliction cf [ ii ui iihoieiiis was committed lo the priests, in 
order to give toem more solemnity, and render them 
kss invidious. 

* This was in order further to enforce the sarae idea 



MANNERS OF THE GER.MANS. 



21 



It is a principal incentive to their courage^ 
that their squadrons and battalions are not 
formed by men fortuitously collected, but 
by the assemblage of families and clans. 
Near them are ranged the dearest pledgee 
of their affection : so that they have withia 
hearing the yells of their women, and the 
cries of their children. These, too, are 
the most respected witnesses, the mest 
liberal applauders, of the conduct of each. 
To their mothers and wives they bring 
their wounds ; and these are not shocked 
at counting, and even requiring^ them. 
They also carry food and encouragement * 
to those who are engaged. 

of a divine presence. The images were of wild beasts^ 
the types and ensigns of their national religion (see 
Tacitus's Hist, iv. 22.) : th^ standards were such as had 
been taken from the enemy, and were bung up in their 
groves to the deity of the placcc 

^ Instead of the Latin word answering to this exigere, 
some read exsugere, " to suck the wounds.'* This^ 
however, is an unauthorized reading, and less in the 
manner of the author. The word " requiring*' strongly 
expresses the savage fortitude of the German women, 
who would even receive their husbands and children 
with reproaches, if they left the field unwounded. 

* Cibos €t hortamia ; Food and encourageiaeot'*^^ 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



Tradition relates, that armies beginnings 
to give way have been brought again to* 
the charge by the v^onien, through the 
earnestness of theirentreaties, the opposition 
of their bodies % and the pictures they have 
drawn of imminent slavery * ; a calamity 
which these people bear with more im- 
patience on their women's acco^unt than 
their own ; so that those states who have 
been obliged to give among their hostages- 
one of the points, frequently to be met with in Tacitus^, 
like the *' mountains and mutual dread*' in the first 
sentence of this treatise.. Some annotators, not enter- 
ing into this mark of character in the historian's style, 
have interpreted hortamina refreshments" ; and as 
food was before related, have supposed it to mean wine 
or aie. J. A, 

^ They not only interposed to prevent the flight of 
their husbands and sons; but, in desperate emergencies, 
themselves engaged in battle. This happened on 
Marius's defeat of the Cimbri (hereafter to be men- 
tioned) ; and Dio relates, that when Marcus Auriiius 
overthrew the Marcomanni, Quadi, and other German 
allies, the bodies of women in armour were found among 
the slain, 

* Thus, in the army of Ariovistus, the women, with 
their hair dishevelled, and weeping, besought the sol- 
diers not to deliver them capliTes to the Romans^ 
Csesar^ BeU. Gall, io 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



23 



the daughters of noble faaiilies, are the 
most effectually eiig^aged to fidelity They 
even suppose somewhat ot sanctity and 
prescience to be inherent in the female 
sex; and therefore neither despise their 
counsels % nor disregard their responses \ 

^ Relative to this, perhaps, is a circumstance men*- 
tioned by Suetonius in his life of Augustus. "From 
some nations he attempted to exact a new kind of 
hoita^es, women ; because he observed that those of 
the male sex were disregarded.'* Ang, xxi. 

^ See the same observations with regard to the Celtic 
women, in Plutarch on ike virtues of ivomen. The 
North Americans pay a similar regard to their females. 

* A remarkable instance of this is given by Caesar. 
" When he inquired of the captives the reason why 
Ariovistus did not engage, he learned, that it was 
because the matrons, who among the Germans are 
accustomed to pronounce, from their divinations, whe- 
ther or no a battle will be favourable, had declared that 
they would not prove victorious, if they should fight 
before the new moon.'* BelJ, Gall, i. The cruel 
manner in which the Cirabrian women performed their 
divinations, is thus related by Strabo, " The women 

who follow the Cimbri to war, are accompanied by 

grey-haired prophetesses, in white vestments, with 
" canvas mantles fastened by clasps, a brazen girdle, 

and naked feet. These go with drawn swords through 

the camp, and striking dowa those of the priciontrs 
^' thal they meet, drag them to a bra^-en kettle, holding 



'24 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS, 



We liave beheld, in the reign of Vespasian ^ 
Veleda ^ long reverenced by many as a 
deity. They formerly also venerated 
Aiirinia, and several others ; but without 
adulation, or as if they intended to make 
them goddesses ^, 

Of the gods. Mercury is the principal 
object of their adoration^; whom, on 

about twenty amphorjs. This has a kind of stage 
^' above it, ascending on which, the priestess cuts the 
throat of the victim, and from the manner in which 
the blood flows into the vessel, judgts of the future 
event. Others tear open the bodies of the captives 
" thus butchered, and from inspection of the entrails, 
" presage victory to their own party." Lib. vii. 

* She was afterwards taken prisoner by Rutilius 
Gallicus. Statius in his Sylv<s^ u 4. refers to this 
«vent. Tacitus has more concerning her in his His* 
iory^ iv, 61. 

^ Becaiise at that period, the superstition which 
made deities ol them, did not prevail. Thus Tacitus 
in his account of Veleda—** according to the ancient 
custom of the Germans, which attributed a prophetic 
character to many of their women, and as superstition 
advanced, i^garded them as divinities." Hist. iv. 61, 
They were afterwards so immoderately addicted to this 
opinion, that, among the monuments of German anti- 
quity, altars and inscriptions occur, to the matrons of 
the Suevi, Treveri, Aufani, &c. 

^ Tacitus here seems to disagree with Caesar, who 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



25 



certain days, th^ think it lawful to pro- 
pitiate even with human victims. To 

says, " They reckon those alone in the number of gods 
which are the objects of their perception, and by 
whose attributes they are visibly benefited; as the 
Sun, the Moon, and Vulcan. The rest they have not 
even heard of.'' Bell. Gall, vii. If the different 
periods, however, are considered, there will not be the 
least disagreement between the two authors. In the 
lime of Csesar, the Germans had those deities which 
are common to almost all uncivilized nations, the Sun, 
the Moon, and Vulcan, or Fire ; which, whether elicited 
from flint — excited by the violent attrition of two pieces 
of wood, as at this day practised by the American sa- 
vages — felt in thermal waters — or seen amidst the roar 
of thunders in lightning — was equally the object of their 
admiration and reverence. Afterwards, by their con- 
nection with the Gauls and Romans, they received 
Mercury, Mars, and Hercules, the worship of whom 
prevailed in the age of Tacitus. In process of time, 
Neptune, and the rest of the heathen deities, arrived in 
Germany. With respect to Mercury, the Germans wor- 
shipped him on the same accounts as the Gauls are said 
to do by Csesar. " Among the gods, they principally 
" adore Mercury, of whom the most images are to be 
'* seen. Him they regard as the inventor of all arts; 
** the patron of roads and journeys; and the most potent 
in bestowing gain of money or merchandize," Beii. 
GalL vi. Hence, when in ancient times there was great 
commercial intercourse at the Aquae Helvetiae, now 
called Baden, and this was the road into Helvetia, 3Ier- 

D 



2§ MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 

Hercules and Mars they offer the animals 
usually allotted for sacrifice ^ ; and some of 
the Suevi also perform saored rites to Isis ^ 

€iiiy was worshipped there with peculiar reverence, in a 
iieighbouring mountain and wood. 

^ It is probable ih^t human sacrifices were also occa- 
fsionally offered to these. With respect to Mars, the 
fact is undoubted, at least in time of wax. Thus, in the 
Annakf xiii. 57. Tacitus relates that the Gatti " de^ 
voted the opposite army to Mars and Merc^iry ; in 
consequence of which vow, men, horses, and every 
thing belonging to the vanquished, are given up to 
*^ utter destruction.' ' Procopius, also, in his Gothic 
War 9 B. ii; mentions instances t)f men being sacrificed 
to Mars. As the Germans were of Scythian origin, they 
retained much of the religion of their Scythian ancestors, 
€oncerning which see Herodotus, iv. 59, &c. Lucan, 
enumerating the Gallic nations who followed Csesar, 
sjjeaksof tfeose 

'quibtts insmitis placatur sanguine diro 

Teutates, horrensque feris altaribus Hesus. 
Et Taranis Scythicae non mitior ara Dian«. 

Lib. i. 444. 

where Haesus"* horrid altar stands, 

Where dire Teutates human blood demands^ 

Where Taranis by wretches is obey'd, 

And vies in slaughter with the Scythian Maid. 

^ The religious ntes of iEgypt spread over Europe 
and Asia. Inscriptions have been found in Germany, 
not only to Isis, but to Serapis ; and the learned 
Schoepflin, ia his Alsatia Illustraia^ exhibits various 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS,. 27 



What was the cause and origin of thii^ fo- 
reign worship, I have not been able to 
discover ; iurther than that her being re- 
presented by the figure of a galley, seems^ 
to indicate a religion brought from abroad ' . 
They conceive it unworthy the grandeur of 
celestial beings to confine their deities 
within walls, or to represent them under a 
human similitude ^ : woods^ and groves are 

other remains of Egyptian superstition among the Ger- 
mans. The representation of Isis under the figure of a 
galley is illustrated by Muratori, in his Thesaur. 
Inscript. Tom, i. p. 25; where the goddess Clathra, 
who is the same with Isis, is exhibited, holding in her 
right hand a sistrum and serpent ; in her left, an instru- 
ment to measure the rise of the Nile ; with a calatkus 
upon her head ; and a galley in the back ground. As 
the Germans did not represent their deities under human 
forms, the "Suevi worshipped Isis in the figure of a 
galley; for that they, who inhabited the banks of the 
Elbe and Danube, should borrow from merchants, or 
the Romans, the worship of this patron-deity of navi-^ 
gators, is not at all wonderful. 

* As the Romans in their ancient coins, many of 
which are now extant, recorded the arrival of Saturn by- 
the stern of a ship ; so other nations have frequently de- 
noted the iniportation of a foreign religious rite by the 
figure of a galley on their medals. 

* They afterwards changed their opinions in this re— 
spect, and erected temples and statues to their deities* « 



28 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS, 



their temples ; ' and they affix names of 
divinity to that secret power, ^ which they 
behold with the eye of adoration alone. 
No people are more addicted to the 

In a coin of Posthumus, a temple is represented, in the 
vestibule of which Hercules is placed, with the inscrip- 
tion, " To the Deusonensian Hercules." Deusone is 
beyond the Rhine. The temple of Tanfana is mentioned 
even by Tacitus, AnnaL i. 51. 

3 Several of these sacred groves are mentioned in 
different parts of Tacitus. Claudian, in his praises of 
Stilicho, mentions the forests being freed from barbarous 
superstitions, and restored to pleasure and utility. 

Ut procul Hercymae per vasta silentia sylvae 
Venari tuto liceat, lucosque vetusta 
Kelligione truces, et robora numinis instar 
Barbarici, nostrse feriant impune secures. 

I. 22». 

Through the deep silence of Hercynian wilds 
Safe roams the hunter; and the gloomy groves, 
« Horrid with antique rites; and frowning oaks^ 
Gods of the forest, by our daring steel 
Fall unrevengM. ^ 

^ Seneca, in his 41st epistle, thus expresses this idea. 
If you walk in a grove, thick-planted with ancient 
trees of unusual growth, the interwoven boughs of 

*' which exclude the light of heaven ; the vast height of 
the wood, the retired secrecy of the place, the deep 
unbroken gloom of shade, impress your mind with the 
conviction of a present deity." Pliny (xii. 1.) briefly 

observes, " Groves, and the very stillness which reigns 
in them, are objects of our adoration«" 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 2& 

methods of divining by omens and lots. 
The latter is performed in the following^ 
simple manner; They cut a twig ^ from a 
fruit-tree, and divide it into small pieces, 
which, distinguished by certain marks, are 
throv^^n promiscuously upon a white gar- 
ment. Then, the priest of the state, if the 
occasion be public ; if private^ the master 
of the family ; after an invocation of the 
gods, with his eyes lifted up to heaven, 
thrice takes out each piece, andy as they 
come up, interprets their signification ac- 
cording to the marks fixed upon them. If 
they prove unfavourable, they are no more 
consulted on the same affair that day: if 
propitious, a confirmation by omens is still 
required. In common with other nation s^ 

* The Scythians are mentioned by Herodotus, and 
the Alans by Ammianus Marcellinus, as making use of 
these divining rods. The German Method of divination 
with them is illustrated by what is said by Saxo- 
Grammaticus (Hist. Dan, xiv. 288.) of the inhabitants 
of the isle of Rugen in the Baltic sea. Throwing 
by way of lots, three pieces of wood^ white in one part, 
and black in another, into their bosoms, they foretold 
" good fortune by the coming up of the white ; bad, by . 
«^ that of the black." 

c 3 



30 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS?. 



the Germans are acquainted with the prac- 
tice of auguring from the voices and flight 
of birds ; but it is peculiar to them also to 
derive admonitions and presages from 
horses ^ Certain of these animals^ milk- 
white, and untouched by earthly labour, 
are pastured at the public expence in the 
sacred woods and groves. These, yoked to 
a consecrated chariot, are accompanied by 
the priest, and king, or chief person of the 
community, who attentively observe their 
manner of neighing and snorting ; and no 
kind of augury is more credited^ not only 
among the populace, but the nobles and 
priests. For they consider themselves 
[during this ceremony] as the ministers of 
the gods ; and the horses, as conscious ta 

^ The Persians had also this practice, as appears from' 
Herodotus. Darius was elected king by the neighing 
of a horse ; sacred white horses were in the army of 
Cyrus ; and Xerxes, retreating after his defeat, was 
preceded by the sacred horses, and consecrated chariot. 
Justin (i. 10.) mentions the cause of this superstition ; 
viz. that " the Persians believed the sun to be the only 
God, and horses to be peculiarly consecrated to him.'* 
The priest of the isle of Rugen also took auspices from a 
white horse, as may be seen in Saxo-Gj-ammaticus^ 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 31 



the divine will. Another kind of divination 
by which they explore the event of momen- 
tous wars, is to oblige a prisoner, taken by 
any means whatsoever from the nation with 
whom they are at variance, to fight with a 
picked man of their own, each with his own 
country arms ; and, according as the victory 
falls, they presage success to one or the 
other party 

On affairs of smaller moment, the chiefs 
consult ; on those of greater importance, 
the whole community ; yet with this cir- 
cumstance, that what is referred to the 
decision of the people, is maturely discussed 
by the chiefs'. They assemble, unless 
upon some sudden emergency, upon stated 
days, either at the full or change of the 

" Hence dneUing, that monument of ferceity and 
superstition, was long considered as an appeal to the 
judgment of Heaven. 

^ This remarkable passage, so curious in political 
history, is commented on by Montesquieu in bis Spirit 
of Laws, vi. 11. That celebrated author expresses 
bis surprise at the existence of such a balance between 
liberty and authority in the forests of Germany; and 
traces the orio^in of the Ensrlish constitution from this 
source. Tacitus again mentions the German form of 
government in his Annals^ iv. 33. 



32 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



moon, which they account the most aus^- 
picious season for beginning any enter- 
prize ^ Nor do they, in their computation 
of time, reckon, like us, by the number of 
days, but of nights. In this form all their 
resolutions and summonses run ; so that 
with them, the night seems to lead the 
day ' . An inconvenience produced by their 
liberty is, that they do not all assemble punc- 
tually to the ^ame time, as if it were in 
obedience to a command ; but two or three ^ 

^ No superstition was more ancient and widely dif- - 
fosed, than the notion, of lunar influence over human , 
ajffairs ; which, in this age of light and knowledge, is 
not totally eradicated. The extravagant powers attri- 
buted to the Hioon may be seen in Pliny's Nat, Hist* 

ii. 9a. 

^ The high antiquity of this mode of reckoning; 
appears from the book of Genesis. The evening and 
" the morning were the first day." The Gauls, we are 
informed by Csesarj assert that, according to the 
tradition of their Druids, they are all sprung from 
Father Dis ; on which account they reckon every 
period of time according to the number of nights, not 
of days ; and observe birth-days and the beginning of 
*^ months and years in such a manner, that the day 
seems to follow the night." Bell. GalL vi. 18. The 
vestiges of this method of computation still appear m 
the English language^ in the terms se'nnigkt and 
fortnight. 



MANNER^ OF THE GERMANS. 33 



days are lost in the delays of convening. 
When the nunjber appears sufficient, they 
sit down armed \ Silence is proclaimed 
by the priests, v/ho have also on this occa- 
sion a coercive power. Then the king, or 
chief, with such as are conspicuous forage, 
birth, military renown, or eloquence % are 
heard ; and gain attention rather from their 
ability to persuade, than their authority to 
command. If a proposal displease, the 
assembly reject it by an inarticulate mur- 
mur ; if it prove agreeable, they clash their 
javelins ' : for the most honourable ex- 
pression of assent among them is the sound 
of arms. 

* And ill an open plain. Vast heaps of stone still 
reniaininj*-, denote the scenes of these national councils. 
See Mallet's Iniroduct. to Hist, of Denmark. The 
English Stoneheiige has been supposed a relick of this 
kind. In these assemblies are seen the origin of those 
which under the Merovingian race of French kings were 
called the fields of March: under the Carlovingian, 
the fields of May ; then, the plenary courts of Christ^ 
vtas and Easter ; and lastly, the States General, 

^ The power of eloquence is great among all unci- 
vilized people. Remarkable instances of it occur among 
the North American savages. 

* The speech of Civilis was received with this 
pression of applause. Tacitus Hist, iv, 15, 



34 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



Before this council, it is likewise allowed 
to present accusations, and to prosecute 
capital offences. Punishments are varied 
according to the nature of the crime. 
Traitors ' and deserters are hung upon 
trees ^: cowards, effeminate persons % and 

^ Thus Tassilo, Duke of Bavaria, being convicted of 
treachery, was condemned to death by the Franks, 
Bavarians, Lombards, Saxons, and others assembled in 
council ; but through the clemency of Charlemagne^, 
his head was shaved, and he was thrown in a monastery. 
Eccard, De rebus Francice Orientalis^ Tom. i. p. 725i 

^ Gibbeted alive. Heavy penalties were denounced^ 
against those who should take them down, alive or dead.. 
These are particularized in the Salic law. 

^ It has been seen before, p. 19. that cowardly and 
effeminate persons were suffered to live, though with 
merited ignominy. Who then are they whose cowardice 
is made a capital crime? Probably those who having 
given their names to the military levies, refused to go 
to war. Caesar [BelL Gall. vi. 22.) mentions that 
those who refused to follow their chiefs to war, were 
considered as deserters and traitors. And afterwards 
the emperor Clothaire made the following edict, pre- 
served in the Lombard law. Whatever freeman, 

summoned to the defence of his country by his Count,^ 
" or his officers, shall neglect to go, and the enemy enter 

the country to lay it waste, or otherwise damage our 
^' liege subjects, he shall incur a capital punishment." 
As the^ crimes of cowardice^ treachery, and desertion 



MAOTsERS OF THE GERMANS. 35 



those guilty of unnatural practices % are 
suffocated in mud under a hurdle. This 
difference of punishment has in view the 
principle, that villainy Kshould be ex- 
posed while it is punished, but turpitude 
concealed. Tlie penalties annexed to 
slighter offences % are also proportioned 
to the delinquency. The culprits are fined 
in horses and cattle ' : part of the 

-were so odious and ignominious among the Germans^ 
we find by the Salic law iliat penalties were annexed to 
the unjust imputation of them. 

^ These were so rare and so infamous among the 
Germans, that barely calling a person by a name signi*. 
ficant of them was severely punished. 

^ Among tbese slighter offences, however, were 
reckoned homicide, adultery, theft, and many others of 
a similar kind. This appears from the laws of the 
Germans, and from a subsequent passage of Tacitus 
himself. 

^ These were at that time the only rkh^s of th€ 
country, as was already observed in this treatise. After- 
Avards gold arid silver became plentiful : h^nce all the 
mulcts required by the Salic law are pecuniary. Money, 
however, still bore a fix^ed proportion to cattle ; as ap- 
pears from the Saxon law. Tit. xviii. The Solidus 
is of two kinds ; one contains two tremisses, that is a 
beevet)f twelve months, or a sheep with its lamb ; th« 
^« other, three trcmisseSy or a beeve of sixteen months. 



36 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



mulct' goes to the king or state ; part to the 
injured person, or his relations. In the same 
assemblies chiefs ' are also elected, to ad- 
minister justice through the cantons and 

*^ Homicide is coni pounded for by the lesser solidus ; 
other crimes by the greater." 

2 This mulct is frequently in the Salic law called 
fred^ that is peace; because it was paid to the king or 
state as guardians of the public peace. 

^ A brief account of the civil oeconomy of the Ger- 
mans will here be useful. They were divided into 
nations ; of which some were under a regal goverrnnent, 
others a republican. The former had kings, the latter 
chiefs. Both in kingdoms and republics, military af- 
fairs were under the conduct of the gen€7^als. Th^ 
nations were divided into cantons ; each of which was 
superintended by a chiej', or count, who administered 
justice in it. The cantons were divided into districts 
or hundreds, so called because they contain a hundred 
mils or townships. Tn each hundred was a companion, 
or centenary, chosen from the people, before whorii 
small causes were tried. Before the count, all causes, 
as well great as small, were amenable. The centenaries 
are CdM^di companions by Tacitus, after the custom of 
the Romans ; among whom the titles of honour were, 
Caesar, the Legatus or Lieutenant of C^sar, and bis 
comites, or companions. The courts of justice were 
held in the open air, on a rising ground, beneath the 
shade of an oak, elm, or some other large tree. 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



37 



t3isti icte. A hundred companions chosen 
from the people attend upon each of them, 
to assist them as well with their advice as 
their authority. 

Every affair^ both public and private, 
is transacted by them armed ' : but it is 
not customary for any person to assume 
arras till the state has approved his ability 
to use them. Then, in the midst of the 
assembly, either one of the chiefs, or the 
father, or a relation, equips the youth with 
a shield and javelin These are to them 

* Even judges were armed on the seat of justice. All 
the people of German origm stiil retain the custom of 
wearing swords as a part of their dress, when they ap- 
pear in piibUc. The Romans, on the contrary, never 
went armed but when actually engaged in military 
service. 

^ These are the rudiments of the famous institution 
of chivalry. The sons of kings appear to have received 
arms from foreign princes. Hence, when Audoin, after 
overcoming the Gepidi, was requested by tiie Lombards 
to dine with his son Alboin, his partner in the victory, 
he refused : for, says he, " you know it is not custo- 
mary with us for a king's son to dine with his father, 
until he has received arms from the king of another 
country," Warnefrid, De gestis Langohardoriimj 
i. 23. 

B 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



fhe manly gown^ ; this is the first honour 
conferred on youth : before this period they 
are considered as part of a private family ; 
afterwards, of the state. The dignity of 
chieftain is l)estowed even on youths, where 
their descent is eminently illustrious, or 
fheir fathers have performed signal services 
to the public. The rest are associated with 
those of mature strength and approved va- 
lour; Bor is it disgraceful to be seen in the 
jrank of companions \ For the state of 

^ An allusion to tlie ioga vhilis of the Romans. The 
Cierman youth were presented with the shield and spear 
rprobably at twelve or fifteen years of age. This early 
kiitiation into the business of arms, gave them that 
warlike -character for which they were so celebrated. 
Thus, Seneca f Epist. 46.) says, " A native of Ger- 
*^ many brandishes, while yet a boy, Ms slender javelin.'* 
And again, in his book on An^er, i. 11. Who are 

braver than the Germans f who more impetuous in the 

charge ? who fonder of arms ? in the use of which they 
*^ are born and nourished; which are their only care : 
■^^ who more inured to hardships ? insomuch that for the 

mostpa^-t they provide no covering far their bodies, no 
^ Tctireat against the perpetual severity of the <;limate,'* 

^ The German word 'G'^5€^/ is peculiarly appropriated 
to these comrades in arms. So highly were they es- 
^^erned ill Germany, that for lulling or hurting them a 
£ne was exacted treble to that for other freemen* 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



39 



Gompanionship itself has its several degrees^ 
determined by the judgment of the patron ; 
and there is a great emulation among the 
companions, which shall possess the highest 
place in, the favour of their chief ; and 
among the chiefs^ which shall excel in the 
number and valour of their companions. 
It is their dignity, their strength, to be 
always surrounded with a large body of 
select youth, their ornament in peace,, 
their defence in war* Nor at home alone,, 
but among the neighbouring states, their 
fame and glory depend upon exceeding 
others in the number and bravery of their 
companions. Such are courted by embas^ 
sies ; distinguished by presents ; and often 
by their reputation alone decide a war. 

Ill the field of battle, it is disgraceful foi? 
the chief to be surpassed in valour ; it i» 
disgraceful for the companions not to equal 
their chief; but it is reproach and infamy 
during a whole succeeding life to retreat 
^^111 ihe lield surviving him To aid, to 



* Hence, xvhen ChoncxJomarus, king of the Ala- 
mannu vias uxu.. ^.^..^p.^ by the Romans, his com. 
^^panions, two hundred in num..^, *i,rP^ fn^nHs 

peculiarly attached to him, thinking it infamous ta 

k2.. 



40 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS; 



protect him ; to place their own gallant 
actions to the account of his glory ; is their 
first and most sacred engagement. The 
chiefs fight for victory ; the companions 
for their chief. If their native country be 
long sunk in peace and inaction, many of 
the young nobles repair to some other state,^ 
then engaged in war. For, besides that 
repose is ungrateful to their dispositions^ 
and toils and perils afford them a better 
opportunity of distinguishing themselves ; 
they are unable, without war and violence^ 
to maintain a large train of followers,. 
The companion requires from the liberality 
of his chief, the warlike steed, the bloody 
and conquering spear : and in place of 
pay, he expects to be supplied with a table, 
homely indeed, but plentiful ^ The funds^ 



survive their prince, or not to die for him, surren- 
'* dered themselves to be put in bonds," Ammianus. 
Marcellinus» 

^ From hence Montesquieu Spirit of Laws y xxx. 3.) 
justly derives the origin of Vassalage. At first, the 
prince gave to his nobles arms and provision ; as avarice 
tidvanced, money, and then lands were reqaire^^ xvhich 
from benefices became at i---* nc.uitary possessions, 
ana were caiica jiejs^ Hence the establishment of thfe 
feudal system^ 



MANNERS OF THE GERMAN^ 41 



fer this munificence must be in war a^^ 
rapine ; nor are they so easily persuaded 
to cultivate the earth, and await the pro- 
duce of the seasons, as to challenge the foe, 
and hazard wounds ; for they think it 
base and spiritless to earn by sweat, what 
they might purchase with blood. 

During the intervals of war, they pass 
their time less in hunting, than in indolent 
repose ' ; given up to sleep and repasts^ 
All the bravest of the warriors, committing 
the care of the house, the family affairs, 
and the lands^ to the women, old men, and 
weaker part of the domestics, stupify them- 
selves in inaction : so wonderful a contrast 
prevails in their nature, that they at the 
same time should thus love indolence, and 

^ Caesar with less precision, says, " Tlie Germans 
" pass their whole lives in hunting and military ex- 

ercises." Bell. GalL vi. ^1. The picture drawn by 
Tacitus is more consonant to the genius of a barbatous 
people ; besides that,. hunting being the employment but 
of a few months of the year, a greater part must 
necessarily be passed in indolence by those who had 
no other occupation. In this circumstance, and those 
afterwards related, the North American Savages exactly 
agree with the ancient Germans. 



42 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



J4te tranquillity ^ It is customary for the 
several states to present, of their own accord, 
and man by man % cattle or grain * to their 
chiefs ; which contributions, accepted as 
honorary gifts, also serve as necessary sup- 
plies \ They are peculiarly pleased with 

^ This apparent contradiction is however perfectly 
agreeable to the principles of human nature. Among^^ 
people governed by impulse more than reason, every 
thing is in the extreme : war and peace ; motion and 
rest ; love and hatred ; none are pursued with mode- 
ration . 

^ These are the rudiments of tributes; though the " 
contributions here spoken of were voluntary, and without 
compulsion. The origin of exchequers is pointed out 
above, where " part of the mulct" is said to be paid 

to the king or state." Taxation was taught the 
Germans by the Romans, who levied taxes upon them; 

^ So in after- times, when tributes were customary, 
500 oxen or cows were required annually from the 
Saxons by the French kings Clothaire I. and Pepin^ 
See Eccardy torn, i, p. 84 and 480. Honey, corn, and 
other products of the earth were likewise received in 
tribute. Ibid. p. 392. 

^ For the expences of war, and other necessities of 
state, and particularly the public entertainments. 
Hence, besides the Steora, or annual tribute, th& 
Oaterstuophay or Easter cup, previous to the public 
assembly of X\i^ fields of Marchy was paid to the Frencb 
Mngs» 



MAPJNERS OF THE GERMANS. 43 



presents from neighbouring nations, siicb 
as are offered not only by individuals, but 
the community at large ; as fine horses, 
heavy armour, rich housings, and gold 
chains. We have now taught them also 
to accept of money ^. 

It is well known that none of the Ger- 
man nations inhabit cities ' ; or even admit 
of contiguous settlements. They dwell^^ 
scattered and separate, as each is deter- 
mined to a particular spot by a spring, a 
field, or a grove. Their villages are laid 
out, not like our^'s in rows of joining build- 
ings ; but every one surrounds his house 
with a vacant space % either by way of 

^ This was a dangerous lesson, and which in the end 
proYed ruinous to the Roman empire. Herodian says 
of the Germans in his time, They are chiefly to be 
prevailed upon by bribes ; being fond of money, 
and continually selling peace to the Romans for gold/* 
Lib, vi. 139. 

' This custom was of long duration ; for there is not 
the mention of a single city in Ammianus Marcellinus, 
who wrote on the wars of the Romans in Germany. 
The names of places in Ptolemy (ii. 11.) are not there- 
fore those of cities, but oi scattered villages. The 
Germans had not even what we should call towns, 
notwithstanding Caesar asserts the contrary. 

» This space, surrounding the bouse, and fenced i» 



44 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 

security against fire % or through ignorance 
of the art of building. For, indeed, they 
are unacquainted with the use of mortar and 
tiles; and for every purpose employ rude 
unsightly materials, void of all ornaments 
They bestow more than ordinary pains in 
rubbing over some places with a kind of 
earth so pure and shining that it gives 
the appearance of painting. They also 
dig subterranean caves % and cover them 

by hedges, was that celebrated Salic land, which de-^ 
scended to the male line, exclusively of the female. 

9 The danger of fire was particularly urgent in time 
of war ; for as Csesar informs us, these people were 
acquainted with a methbd of throwing red hot clay 
bullets from slings, and burning javelins, on the thatch* 
of houses. Bell. Gall. v. ^2, 

» This earth, which must have been either a chalk 
or a white clay, was probably dug from their own 
mountains. Some might be brought from Britain, 
which, as appears from certain inscriptions, at that tima 
had a trade in exporting chalk. 

2 Thus hkewise Mela, ii. 1. concerning the Sar- 
matiaiis. " On account of the length and severity of 
<^ their winters, they dwell under ground, either in 
natural or artificial caverns." At the time that Ger- 
many was laid waste by a forty years' war, Kircher saw 
many of the natives who, with their flocks, herds, and 
other possessions, took refuge in this caverns of the 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 45 



over with a great quantity of dung. These 
they use as winter-retreats, and granaries' ; 
for the severity of the cold is mitigated ia 
them: and upon an invasion, when the 
open country is plundered, these recesses 
remain undiscovered, either because the 
enemy is ignorant of them, or because he 
will not trouble himself with the search. 

The clothing common to all is a Sagum \ 
fastened by a clasp, or, in want of that, a 



highest mountains. For many other curious particulars 
concerning these and other subterranean caves, see 
his Mundus Subterraneus^ viii. 3. p. 100. 

^ Near Newbottle, the seat of the Marquis of 
Lothian, are some subterraneous apartments and pas-^ 
sages cut out of the live rock, which had probably 
served for the same purposes of winter-retreats and 
granaries as thase dug by the ancient Germans ^ Pen-- 
nant's Tour in 1769. 4to. p. 63. 

^ This was a kind of mantle of a square form, called 
also Rh€7io. Thus C^sar (Bell. Gall. vi. 21.) They 
" use skins for clothing, or the short Rhenones, and 
" leave the greatest part of the body naked.'' Isidore, 
xix. 23^ describes the Rhenones as garments covering 
^boulders and breast, as low as the navel, so rough 

M*T' '^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ impenetrable to rain.'* 
^ ^ <:Deaking of the Germans, says, The men 
are clothed only . ..u *v,e sagum, or the bark of trees^ 
even m the depth of winteu- 



46 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS^ 



thorn. With no other covering, they pass 
whole days on the hearth, before the fire. 
The more wealthy are distinguished by a 
vest, not flowing loose, like those of the 
Sarmatians and Parthians ^ but girt close, 
and exhibiting the shape of every limb. 
They also wear the skins of beasts, which 
the people near the borders are less curious 
in selecting or preparing than the more 
remote inhabitants, who cannot by com* 
merce procure other clothing. These 
make choice of particular furs, which they 
variegate with spots, and pieces of the skins 
of marine animals % the produce of the exte-, 



^ This flowing habit of the Sarmatians and Parthians 
is expressed in many ancient coins. It was imitated by 
the Cisrhenane Vangiones, as appears from Lucan, i» 
430. 

Et qui te iaxis imitantur, Sarmata, bracois, 
Vangiones. 

Vanffiones, like loose Sarmatians drcst, 

Who with roug^ hides their bra^^ny thighs invest. 

RowE. 

^ AH savages are fon^ of variety of colours; h^^^^ 
the Germans spotted their furs with the ski»^ other 
animals, of which those here mentio---' were probably 
of the seal kind. This prartice is still continued with 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



4f 



rior ocean, and seas to us unknown ' . The 
dress of the women does not differ from 
that of the men ; except that they more 
frequently wear linen % which they stain 
with purple^; and do not lengthen their 
upper garment into sleeves, but leave ex- 
posed the whole arm, and part of the breast. 

The matrimonial bond is nevertheless strict 
and severe among tliem ; nor are their man- 
ners in any respect moredeservingof praise' . 
Almost singly among the barbarians', 

regard to the erraice, ^Yllich is spotted with black 
lamb's-skin. 

The Northern Sea and Frozen Ocean. 

' Pliny testifies the same thing ; and adds that " the 

woQieo beyond the Rhine are not acquainted with any 

more elegant kind of clothing.'' xix. 1. 

^ Not that rich and costly purple in which the Roman 
nobility shone ; but some ordinary material, such as 
the vaccinium, which Pliny says was used by the 
Gauls as a purple die for the garments of the slaves, 
ivi. IS. 

^ The chastity of ^he Germans, and their strict regard 
to the laws of marriage, are witnessed by all their 
ancient codes of law. The purity of their manners in 
this respect afforded a striking contrast to the licen- 
tiousness of the Romans in the decline of the empire ; 
and is exhibited in this li^^ht bv Salvian, in his treatise 
D£ Gubernatione Dei^ L. vii. 

- The Hurons in North America are said by Chark- 
> oix to afford the same example of continence. 



48 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



they content themselves with one wife ; a 
very few of them excepted, who not through 
incontinence, bnt because their alliance is 
solicited on account of their rank % practise 
polygamy. The wife does not bring a 
dowry to her husband^ but receives one 
from him\ The parents and relations 
interpose, and pass their approbation on 
the presents — presents not adapted to please 
a female taste, or decorate the bride ; but 
a yoke of oxen, a caparisoned steed, a 
shield, spear, and sword. By virtue of 
these, the wife is espoused ; who on her 
part also makes a present of armour to her 

3 Thus we find in C^sar (BeiL Gall. i. 53.) that 
Ariovist«s had two wives. Others had more. This 
indulgence proved more difficult to abolish, as it was 
considered as a mark of opulence, and an appendage of 
nobility. 

* The Germans purchased their wives, as appears 
from the following clauses in the Saxon law concerning 
miarriage, A person wbo espouses a wife shall pay 
to her parents 300 scAidi {about £180. sterling) : but 
if the marriage be without the consent of the parents, 
the damsel, however, consenting, he shall pay 600 solidi*, 
If neither the parents n^or damsel consent, that is, if she 
be carried off by violence, he shall pay 300 so lidi^ to 
the parents, and 340 to the damsel, and restore her to 
tier parents,'* 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS, 49 



husband. This they consider as the firmest 
bond of union ; these, the sacred mysteries, 
the conjugal deities. That the woman 
may not think herself excused from exer- 
tions of fortitude, or exempt from the 
casualties of war, she is admonished by 
the very ceremonial of her marriage, that 
she comes to her husband as a partner in 
toils and dangers ; an equal both to suffer 
and to dare, in peace and in war : this is 
indicated by the yoked oxen, the harnessed 
steed, the offered arms. Thus she is to 
live ; thus to die. She receives what she 
is to return inviolate ' and merited to her 
children ; what her daughters-in-law are 
to receive, and again transmit to her grand- 
children. 

They live, therefore, in a state of well- 
guarded chastity ; corrupted by no seducing 
spectacles % no convivial incitements. Men 

^ Thus in the Saxon law, concerning dowries, it is 
said, " The Ostfahi and Angrarii determine, that if a 

woman have male issue, she is to possess the dower 

she received in marriage during her life, and transmit 
■ • it to her sons." 

^ Seneca speaks with great force and warmth on this 
subject. Nothing is so destructive to morals as loiter- 



50 



MANNERS OF THE GERBIANS. 



and women are alike ignorant of the secret 
methods of corresponding by letters'^. 
Adultery is extremely rare among so nu- 
merous a people. Its punishment is instant, 
and at the pleasure of the husband ' . He 

" ing' at public entertainments ; for vice more easily 
insinuates itself into the heart when softened by plea- 
*^^s«4re. What shall I say! — I return from them more 
covetous, ambitious, and luxurious." Epkt, vii, 
^ The Latin is, simply, Uterarum secreta, " the 
secrets of letters." But the Germans were acquainted 
with the use of letter?, as appears from the epistles of 
Maroboduus and Agandestrius in Tacitus's Annals, ii. 
€3. and 88. The arts of stolen correspondence by the 
secret conveyance of love-letters, cnay therefore be here 
meant. It may be observed, however, that the know- 
ledge of letters was ex:tremely rare among this rude and 
warlike people ; and remained so^ even among those of 
the highest rank, for many ages, in all the nations of 
German origin. 

s Thus in the law of the Visigoths it is provided, that, 
If a woman commit adultery, and be not taken in the 
fact, her husband shall accuse her before the judge, 
by competent evidence. And if her crime appear 
manifest, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall 
be delivered to the husband, to do with them what he 
shall think fit.'' A.lso, " If an adulterer and adulteress 
be put to death by th€ husband or person to whom 
the woman is betrothed^ he shall not be held guilty 
•^^of homicide^'* The Burgundian law is somewhat 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



51 



cuts off the hair ^ of the offender, strips her, 
and in presence of her relations expels her 
fi'om his house, and pursues her with 
stripes through the whole village ' . Nor 

different. If a husband detect his wife in adultery^ 
he may put to death both the adulterer and adulteress. 
But it is to be observed that he mast kill both ; other- 
" wise, if he kill but one, he shall pay that compensation 
" which the preceding laws have established." The 
design of this rule seems to have been, to prevent a 
murder from any other cause of quarrel being attributexl 
to this. 

» The Germans had a great regard for the hair, amd 
looked upon cutting it off as a heavy disgrace ; so that 
this was made a punishment for certain crimes, and 
was resented as an injury if practised upon an innocent 
person. 

^ From an epistle of St. Boniface, Archbishop of 
Mentz, to Ethelbald, King of England, we learn, that 
among the Saxons the women themselves inflicted the 
punishment for violated chastity. In ancient Saxony 
" (now Westphalia J if a virgin pollute her father's house, 
or a married woman prove false to her vows, some- 
times she is forced to put an end to her own life by the 
halter, and over the ashes of her burned body her se- 
*' ducer is hanged ; sometimes a troop of females asseni- 
**bling lead her through the circumjacent villages, 
lacerating her body, stripped to the girdle, with rods 
*< and knives ; and thus bloody and full of minute woundb, 
she is continually met by new tormentors, who in their 
zeal fox:, chastity do not quit her till she is dead, 05 
F 2 



52 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



is any indulgence shewn to a prostitute. 
Neither beauty, youth, nor riches, can 
procure her a husband : for none there 
looks on vice with a smile, nor ca]ls mutual 
seduction the way of the world. Still more 
exemplary is the practice of those states ^ 
in which none but virgins marry, and the 
expectations and wishes of a wife are at 
once brought to a period. Thus they take 
one husband as one body and one life ; that 
110 thought, no desire, may reach beyond 
him ; and he may be loved not only as their 
husband, but as their marriage ' . To limit 

scarcely alive, in order to inspire a dread of such of- 
fences." See Michael Alford's Annales Ecclesice 

Anglo-Saxon, and Eccard. 

* A passage in Valerius Maximus renders it probable 

that the Cimbrian states were of this number. " The 
wives of the Teutones besought Marius after his 
victory that he would deliver them as a present to 
the Vestal virgins ; alhrming that they should hence- 

*^ forth equally with themselves abstain from the 
embraces of the other sex. This request not being 
granted, they all strangled thenaselves the ensuing 
night." Lib. vi. 1. No. 3. 

^ Some nations carried this idea so far, that the wife 
refused to survive her husband, but killed herself in 
order to be burnt on the same funeral pyre with him,, 
St, Boniface, in the epistle above-cited, relates this of 



MANNERS OF THE GERMAN^B. 



53 



the increase of children % or put to death 
any of the husband's blood % is accounted 
infamous : and virtuous manners have 
there more efficacy than good laws el^- 
where \ 

theWinedi; and Procopiiis of tlie Heruli. Some of 
the East-Indian tribes, it is well known, practise tli-e 
same to this day. 

This expression may signify as well the murder of 
young children, as the procurement of abortion ; both 
which crimes were severely punished by the German 
laws. 

^ Quenquam ex Agnatisy The Adgnati were 
those who by a relationship on the father's side became 
part of the family. Thus, among the Romans, adoption 
is said to confer not the right of blood, but of agnation, 
^ Justin has a similar thought concerning the Scy- 
thians. " Justice is cultivated by the dispositions of the 
" people, not by the laws." ii. 2. How inefficacious 
the good laws here alluded to by Tacitus were in pre- 
venting enormities among the Romans, appears from 
the frequent complaints of the Senators, and particu- 
larly of Minucius Felix. " I behold you, exposing 
your babes to the wild beasts and birds, or strangling 
the unhappy wretches with your own hands. Some 
of you, by means of drugs, extinguish the newly- 
" formed man within your bowels, and thus commit 
" parricide on your offspring before you bring them 
" into the world." Octaviics, ch. 30. So familiar was 
this practice grown at Rome, that the virtuous Pliny 
apologizes for it, alledging thajt the great fertility of 
F 3 



64 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 

In all their houses they grow up in 
nakedness ^ and filth to that bulk of body 
and limb which we behold with wonder. 
Every mother suckles her own children, 
and does not deliver them into the hands 
of servants and nurses. The master and 
slave are not to be distinguished by any 
delicacy in bringing up. They lie to- 
gether amidst the same cattle, upon the 
same ground, till age ■ separates, and va- 

*^ some women may require such a licence." xxix. 4. 
.sect. 37. 

^ Thus Mela, iii. 3, TLey go naked in the g-reatest 
cold before they arrive at puberty ; and the period 
of childhood among them is of long duration.' - 
^ This age appears at first to have been twelve years ; 
for then a youth became liable to the penalties of law. 
Thus in the Salic law it is said^ if a child under 
" twelve commit a fault, fred^ or a mulct, shall not be 
required of him.'' Afterwards the term was fifteen 
years of age. Tbus in the Ripuary law, *^ A child 
" under fifteen shall not be responsible." Again, *^Ifa 
man die, or be killed, and leave a son ; before he have 
^' completed his fifteenth year, he shall neither prosecute 
a cause, nor be called upon to answer in a suit : but at 
this term, he must either answer himself, or chuse an 
*^ advocate. In like manner with regard to the female 
" sex." The Burgundlan law provides to the same 
effect. This then was the term of majority^ which, in 
later times, when heavier armour was used^ was still 
longer delayed. 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



55 



lour ^ marks out, the free-born. The youths 
partake late of venereal pleasures and 
hence pass the age of puberty unexhausted : 
nor are the virgins brought forward ; the 
same maturity, the same full growth, is 
required : the sexes unite equally matched % 
and robust ; and the children inherit the 
vigour of their parents. Children are 
regarded with equal affection by their 

9 In like manner, king Theodoric, in Cassiodorus, 
[Variarum^ Ep. i. 38.) determines the age of majority 
by military virtue, It is an indignity that those of 
our youth who are approved as fit to serve in the 
*^ army, should be called incapable of regulating their 
own lives; and should be thought unable to govern 
" their families, and yet qualified for the business 
" of war. Among the Goths, valour constitutes 
" legitimacy of age ; and he who has strength to pierce 
his foe, ought to repress the attack of every vice.'' 
1 This is illustrated by a passage in Caesar, BelL 
GalL vi. 21. They who are the latest in proving 
their virility are most commended. By this delay 
they imagine the stature is increased, the strength 
improved, and the nerves fortified. To have know- 
" ledge of the other sex before twenty years of age, is 
" accounted in the highest degree scandalous.'' 

* Equal not only in age and constitution, but in 
condition. Many of the German codes of law annex 
penalties to those of both sexes, who marry persons of 
inferior rank. 



66 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



maternal uncles ' as by their fathers : some 
even consider this as the more sacred bond 
of consanguinity, and prefer it in the re- 
quisition of hostages, as if it held the mind 
by a firmer tye, and the family by a more 
extensive obligation, A person's own 
children, however, are his heirs and suc- 
cessors ; and no wills are made. If there 
are no children, the next in order of in- 
heritance are brothers, paternal and ma- 
ternal uncles \ The more numerous are 

2 Hence, in the history of the Merovingian kings of 
France, so many instances of regard to sisters and their 
children appear, and so many wars undertaken on their 
account. 

* The following rules of succession are established 
by the Salic law. 

I. If a person die and leave no children, his father 
and mother, if living, inherit. 

II. " If he have no father or mother, his brothers and 

sisters succeed. 

III. " In default of these, the mother's sister inherits. 

IV. And next to her, the father's sister. 

V. After these, their issue in like manner, the next 
of kin of the paternal Ihie inheriting. 

VI. " But of the Salic land, no part of the inheritance 
descends to females, but it belongs to the male 
sex ; that is, the sons succeed to it. When, 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 57 



a man's relations and kinsmen, the more 
comfortable is his old age ; nor is it any 
advantage to be childless \ 

Every one is obliged to adopt the enmi- 
ties^ of his father or relations, as well as 
their friendships : these, however, are not 

however, a controversy arises among grandchildren 
or great-grandchildren, after a long period, con- 
cerning the allodial property of the land, it is 
divided not according to stocks, hwt numbers of 
individuals.'' 

To understand this last rule, it is to be observed, as 
the learned Eccard remarks, that at this remote period 
the Germans had each their house, called Sal, with a 
space about it, called Salhuck, the Homestead. This, 
ground, together with the house, was the Seliland, or 
Salic land, which appertained to the male issue exclu- 
sively ; a regulation not unreasonable, as the daughters 
by marriage were transferred to another house and 
Salic land. 

^ The court paid at Rome to rich persons without 
children, by the HcEredipeiiBi or legacy-hunters, is a 
frequent subject of censure and ridicule with the Ro- 
man writers. 

^ Avengers of blood are mentioned in the law of 
Moses, Numb, xxxv. 19. In the Roman law also, 
under the head of " those who on account of unwor- 
" thiness are deprived of their inheritance," it is pro- 
nounced that " such heirs as are proved to have neglected 

revenging the testator's death, shall be obliged to 

restore the entire profits." 



58 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



irreconcileable or perpetual ; for even ho- 
inicide is atoned^ by a certain fine in cattle 
and sheep ; and the whole house accepts 
the satisfaction — an accommodation useful 
to the public, since quarrels are most dan- 
gerous in a state of liberty. No people 
are more addicted to social entertainments, 
or more liberal in the exercise of hospi- 
tality ^ To refuse any human creature 
admittance under their roof, is accounted 
flagitious \ Every one according to his 

It was a wise provision that among this fierce and 
warlike people revenge should be commuted for a pay- 
ment. That this intention might not be frustrated by 
the poverty of the offender, his whole family v^^ere con- 
jointly bound to make compensation. In some of the 
North American tribes, the village to which the mur^ 
derer belongs is laid under this obligation, 

^ Ail uncivilized nations agree in this property^ 
which becomes liBss necessary as a nation improves in 
the arts of civil life. 

^ Thus Caesar, Bell. Gall. vi. 23, " They think 
it unlawful to offer violence to their guests, who, on 
whatever occasion they come to them, are protected 
from injury, and considered as sacred. Every house 
is open to them, and provision every where set befor-e 
*^ them.'* Mela, iii* 3. says of the Germans, They 
" make right consist in force, so that they are not 
ashamed of robbery : they are only kind to their 
guesits, and merciful to suppliants. The Burgundiaa 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



59 



ability feasts his guest ; when his provisions 
are exhausted, he who was late the host, 
is now the guide and companion to another 
hospitable board. Theyenterthenext house 
uninvited, and are received with equal 
cordiality. No difference is made, with 
respect to the rights of hospitality, between 
a stranger and an acquaintance. On the 
departure of the guest, it is customary to 
present him with whatever he may ask 
for ; and with the same freedom a boon is 
desired in return. They are pleased with 
presents ; but think no obligation incurred 
either when they give or receive 

' [Their manner of living with their 
guests is easy and affable.] As soon as 



*' law lays a fine of three solidi on every man who refuses 
his roof or hearth to the coming guest." The SaUc 
law, however, rightly forbids the exercise of hospitality 
to atrocious criminals ; laying a penalty on the person 
who shall harbour one who has dug up or despoiled the 
dead, till he has made satisfaction to the relations. 

' This is a striking picture of the manners of savages. 
Their only wish, their only concern, is Freedom. 

- The clause here put within hooks is propably mis- 
placed ; since it does not connect well either with what 
goes before, or what follows. J. A. 



60 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



they arise from sleep, which they generally 
protract till late in the day, they bathe, 
usually in warm water % as cold weather 
chiefly prevails there. After bathing they 
sit down to meat, each on a distinct seat, 
and at a separate table \ JThen they pro- 
ceed, armed, to business ; and not less fre- 
quently to entertainments; where it is no 
disgrace to pass days and nights, without 
intermission, in drinking. \^ The frequent 
quarrels that arise amongst them when 
intoxicated, terminate not so often in 
abusive language, as in blood and slaugh- 
ter \ In their feasts, they generally de- 

" The Russians are at present the most remarkable 
among the northern nations for the nse of warm 
bathing. Some of the North American tribes also have 
their hypocausts, or stoves. 

4 Eating at separate tables is generally an indication 
of voracity in feeding. Traces of it may be found in 
Homer, and other writers who have described ancient 
manners. The same practice has lately been observed 
among the people of Otaheite ; who occasionally devour 
vast quanti ties of food. 

^ The following article in the Salic law shews at 
once the frequency of these bloody quarrels, and the 
laudable endeavours of the legislature to restrain them. 
*^ If at a feast where there are four or five men in 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



61 



liberate on the reconcilement of enemies, 
on family alliances, on the appointment 
of chiefs, and finally on peace and war ; 
conceiving that at no time the soul is more 
opened to sincerity, or \yarmed to heroism. 
These people, naturally void of artifice or 
disguise, disclose the most secret emotions 
of their hearts in the freedom of festivity. 
The minds of all being thus displayed 
without reserve, the subjects of their de- 
liberation are again canvassed the next 
dav^; and each time has its advantaoes. 
They consult when unable to dissemble ; 
they determine when not liable to mistake. 

Their drink is a liquor prepared from 
barley or wheat ' corrupted into a certain 

company, one of them be killed, the rest shall either 
" convict one as the offender, or shall jointly pay 
" the composition for his death. And this law shall 

extend to seven persons present at an entertain- 

ment." 

^ The same custom is related by Herodotus, i. p. 63. 
as prevailing among the Persians. 

" Of this liquor, Beer or Ale, Pliny speaks in the 
following passage. The western nations have their 

intoxicating liquor, made of steeped grain. The 

^Egyptians, also, invented drinks of the same kind, 
" Thus drunkenness is a stranger in no part of the 
G 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



reseiiiblanGe of wine. Those who border 
the Rhine also purchase wine. Their 
food is simple ; wild fruits, fresh venison' , 
^r coagulated milk They satisfy hun- 

world ; for these liquors are tiken pure, and not 
diluted as wine is. Yet, surely, the Earth thought 
she was producing corn. Oh, the wonderful sagacity 
of our vices ! we have discovered how to render even 
^' water intoxicating^" xiv. 22. 

® Mela says, " Their manner of living is so rude 
^' and savage, that they eat even raw flesh.; either fresh 
killed, or softened by working with their hands and 
^Mcet, after it has grown s till* in the hides of tiime or 
^ wild -animals." iii« 3. Floris relates that the fero- 
city of the Cimbri was fmitigated by their feeding on 
i)read and dressed meat, and drinking wine, in the 
'Softe&t tract of Italy, iii. 3. 

^ This must not be understood to have been cheese ; 
although Csesar says of the Germans, Their diet 
<ihiefly consists of milk, cheese, and flesh." BelL 
GalL v'u 22. Pliny, who was thoroughly acquainted 
with the German manners, says, more accurately, " It 
is surprising that the barbarous nations who live on 
•^^ milk should for so many ages have been ignorant of, 
<xv have rejected, the preparation of cheese ; especially 
since they thicken their milk into a pleasant tarl; 
substance, and a fat butter ; this is the scum of milk 
of a thicker consistence than what is called the whey, 
it mmi not be omitted that it has the properties of 
*^ oil, and is *ised as an unguent by all the barbarians, 
^ and by 4is for children." xu 4U 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS, 



63 



ger without regard to the elegancies and 
delicacies of the table. In quenching 
their thirst they are not equally teniperate> 
If their propensity to drunkenness ' be 
gratified by supplying them as plentifully 
as they choose, they may be subdued by 
their vices as easily as by arms ^ 

They have only one kind of public 
spectacle, which is exhibited in every 
company. Young men, ^\ho make it 
their diversion, dance naked amidst drawn 
swords and presented spears. Practice 
has conferred skill at this exercise, and 
skill has given grace ; but they do not 
exhibit for hire or gain ; the only reward 
of this pastime, though a hazardous one^ 
is the pleasure of the spectators. What 
is extraordinary, they play at dice, when 

' Druukenness is a vice common to all unciyilized 
nations, and irremediable. Janus Taddeus, as a com- 
mentary upon this passage of Tacitus, \Trote a treatise 
on the love of drinking among the ancient Germans j 
in which he does not so much clear tkem from the 
charge, as extend it to other nations. 

- This pohcy has been practised by the Earopeans 
with regard to the North American savages, some 
tribes of which have been almost totalJy extirpated J 
bv it, 

g2. 



64 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



sober, as a serious business ; and that with 
such a desperate venture of gain or loss^ 
that, when every thing else is gone, they 
set their hberties and persons on the last 
throw. The loser goes into voluntary 
servitude ; and though the youngest and 
strongest, patiently suffers himself to be 
bound and sold Such is their stedfast- 

^ St. Ambrose has a remarkable passage concerning 
this spirit of gaming among a barbarous people. " It 
''is said that the Huns, who continually make war 
'' upon other nations, are themselves subject to usurers, 
'' with whom they run in debt at play ; and that while 
*' they live without laws, they obey the laws of the 
*' dice alone ; playing when drawn up in line of battle; 
" carrying dice along with their arms; and perishing 
'' more by each other^s hands than by the enemy. In 
" the midst of victory they submit to become captives, 

and suffer plunder from their own countrymen, which 
" they know not how to bear from the foe. On this 
" account ' they never lay aside the business of war, 
" because, when they have lost all their booty by the 
" dice, they have no means of acquiring fresh supplies for 
*' play, but by the sword. They are frequently borne 
*' away with such a desperate ardour, that when the 

loser has given up his arms, the only part of his 
*' property which he greatly values, he sets the p6wer 
*' over his life at a single cast to the winner or usurer* 

It is a fact, that a person^ known to the KoroaQ 



iHANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



65' 



ness in a bad pmctice — They themselves 
call it honour. The slaves thus acquired 
are exchanged away in commerce, that 
the winner may get rid of the scandal of 
his victory. 

The rest of their slaves have not, like 
our's, particular employments in the family 
allotted them. Each is the master of a 
habitation and houseliold of bis own. 
The lord requires from him a certain 
quantity of grain, cattle, or cloth, as from 
a tenant ; and so far only the subjection 
of the slave extends His other domestic 
offices are performed by his own wife and 
children. It is unusual to scourge a slave, 
or punish him with chains of hard labour. 
They are sometimes killed by their mas- 
ters ; not through severity of chastisement, 

" emperor, paid the price of a servitude which he had 
" by this means brought upon himself, by suffering 
" death at the command of his master." 

* The condition of these slaves was the same as that 
of the vassals, or serfs, who a few centuries ago made 
the great body of the people in every country in Europe, 
The Germans, in after-times^ imitating the Romans, 
had slaves of inferior condition, to whom the name of 
slave became appropriated ; while those in the state of 
rural vassalage were called Lidi, 
g3 



66 



MANNERS OF THE GERMAN?^, 



but in the heat of passion, like an enemy ; 
with this difference, that it is done with im- 
punity". Freedmen ^ are little superior 
to slaves ; seldom filling any important 
office in the family ; never in the state, 
except in those tribes which are under 
regal government ^ There, they rise above 
the free-born, and even the nobles : in the 
rest, the inferior condition of the freed men 
is a proof of freedom. 

Lending money upon interest, and in- 

^ A private enemy could not be slain with impunity, 
since a fine was affixed to homicide ; but a man might 
kill his own slave without any punishment. If, how- 
ever, he killed another person's slave, he was obliged 
to pay his price to the owner. 

^ A slave who acquired his liberty by manumission, 
was called a freedman, but always continued in a class 
different from the freemen. When the use of money 
prevailed, the form of manumitting a slave v/as by 
striking a denarius out of his hand, in the presence of 
the king or state ; whence this order of men were called 
denariati. Among the Germans, if a denariatus^iedL 
without children, his property went to the treasury, as 
appears from the Ripuary law. 

^ The amazing height of power and insolence ta 
which freedmen arrived by making themselves sub- 
servient to the vices of the prince, is a striking cha- 
racteristic of the reigns of some of the worst of the 
Roman emperors. 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



67 



creasing it by usury % is unknown amongst 
them ; and this ignorance more effectually 
prevents the practice than a prohibition 
would do. The lands are occupied by 
townships % in allotments proportional to 
the number of cultivators ; and are after- 
wards parceled out among the individuals 
of the district, in shares according to the 
rank and condition of each person The 

^ In Rome, on the other hand, the practice of usury 
was, as our author terms it, an ancient evil, and a 

perpetual source of sedition and discord." AnnaL 
vi. 16. 

^ All the copies read per vices, by turns," or 
alternately ; but the connection seems evidently to 
require the easy alteration of per vicos, which has been 
approved by many learned commentators, and is there- 
fore adopted in this translation. J. A. 

^ Csesar has several particulars concerning this part 
of German polity. They are not studious of agri- 
culture, the greater part of their diet consisting of 
" milk, cheese, and flesh ; nor has any one a determi- 
" nate portion of land, his own peculiar property ; but the 
magistrates and chiefs allot every year to tribes and 
clanships forming communities, as much land, and 
" in such situations, as they think proper, and oblige 
them to remove the succeeding year. For this 
practice they assign several reasons : as lest they 
should be led, by being accustomed to one spot, to 
" exchange the toils of war for the business of agri- 
culture; lest they should acquire a passion for 



68 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



wide extent of plain facilitates this par- 
tition. The arable lands are annually 
changed, and a part left fallow r nor do 
they attempt to vie with the fertility and 
extent of their country by their own 
industry in planting orchards, enclosing- 
meadows, and watering gardens. Corn is 
the only product required from the earth : 
hence their year is not divided into so 
many seasons as our's : for while they know 
and distinguish by name Winter, Springv 
and Summer, they are unacquainted equally 
with the appellation and bounty of Autumn\ 

" possessing extensive domaiiks, and the more powerful 
should be tempted to dispossess the weaker : lest they 
" should construct buildings with more art than was- 
" necessary to protect them from the inclemencies of 
" the weather : lest the love of money should arise 
" amongst them, the source of faction and dissentions : 
and in order that the people, beholding their own 
«^ possessions equal to those of the most powerful^ 
" might be retained by the bonds of e(|uity and mo- 
" deration." Bell. Gall. vi. 21.- 

2 The Germans, not planting fruit-trees, were ig- 
norant of the proper products of Autumn, They have 
now all the autumnal fruits of their climate ; yet their 
language still retains a memorial of their ancient de- 
ficiencies, in having no term for this season of the year, 
but one denoting the gathering in of corn alone — 
Herbst^ Harvest, 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



69 



Their funerals are without poinp or 
state The only circumstance to which 
they attend, is to burn the bodies of emi- 
nent persons with some particular kinds 
of wood. Neither vestments nor perfumes 
are heaped upon the pile ^ : the arms of 
the dead, and sometimes his horse % are 

^ In this respect, as well as many others, the man- 
ners of the Germans were a direct contrast to those of 
the Romans. Pliny mentions a private person, C. Cae- 
cilius Claudius Isidorus, who ordered the sum of about 
£10,000. sterling to be expended in his funeral : and 
in another place, he says, " intelligent persons asserted 
" that Arabia did not produce such a quantity of spices 
" in a year as Nero burned at the obsequies of his 

Poppaea." xxxiii. 10. and xii. 18. 

* The following lines of Lucan, describing the last 
honors paid by Corneha to the body of Pompey the 
Great, happily illustrate the customs here referred to. 

CoUe^it vestes, miserique insignia Magni, 

Armaque, et impressas auro, quas gesserat olim 

Exuvias, pictasque togas, velanaina summo 

Tcr conspecta Joyi, funestoque intulit igni. Lib. ix. 175. 

There shone his arms, vriih antick gold inlaid, ^ 

There the rich robes which she herself had made, > 

Robes to imperial Jove in triumph thrice displayed: j 

The reliclis of his past victorious days, ^ 

ISow this his latest trophy serve lo raise, ? 

And in one common f?ame together blaze. Rowe. 3 

^ Thus, in the tomb of Childeric, king of the 
Franks, were found his spear and sword, and also his 
horse's head^ with a shx)e, and gold buckles and hoqs^ 



70 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



given to the flames. The tomb is a mound- 
of turf ^ They contemn the elaborate and 
costly honours of monumental structures 
as burthensome to the deceased. They 
soon dismiss their lamentations and tears ; 
slowly, their sorrow and regret. They 
think it the women's part to bewail their 
loss, the men's to remember it \. 

This is what we have learned concerning 
the origin and manners of the Germans in 
general. I now proceed to mention those 
particulars in which they differ from each 
other ; and likewise to relate what nations 

ings. A human scull was likewise discovered, which, 
perhaps was that of his groom • 

^ The German manner of burial, and the structure 
of their mounds of turf" or barrows, is well illustrated 
by a particular description of some Caledonian or 
Danish cairns or barrows. Pennant's Tour 1769, 4to. 
p. 138 and seq. Further information on this subject 
may be procured from the Voyage to the Hebrides^ 
Part i. p. 52, 181, 182, 185, 297. Part. ii. p. 10. 

^ Thus it is an usual saying among the North Ame- 
rican savages, Tears disgrace a man and when 
going on a military expedition they address their friends 
only with " Remember us." The women, on the 
other hand, mourn their husbands or children for a 
whole year, and during this period continually call 
upon them, morning, noon, and night, with the most 
dismal bowlings. Charlevoix. 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS: 71 



haye migrated from Germany into Gaul. 
That first of writers, the deified Julius, 
asserts that the Gauls were formerly a 
more powerful people than at present ' ; 
whence it is probable that some of them 
even passed over into Germany : for how 
small an obstacle would a river be, to pre- 
vent any nation, as it arrived at strength, 
from occupying or changing settlements 
as yet lying in common, and unappropriated 
by the power of monarchies ? Accordingly, 
the country betwixt the Hercynian forest 
and the Rivers Rhine and Maine w as pos- 
sessed by the Helvetii ^ ; and that beyond 

^ Caesar's account is as follows. " There was for- 
merly a time when the Gauls surpassed the Germans 
in bravery, and made war upon them ; and, on account 
i)i their multitude of people and scarcity of land, sent 

^* colonies beyond the Rhine. The most fertile parts 
of Germany , adjoining to the Hercynian forest, (which) 
1 observe, was known by report to Eratoshenes and 
others of the Greeks, and called by them Orcinia) 
were accordingly occupied by the Volcae and Tecto- 
sages, who settled there. These people still continue 
in the same seUkments, and have a high character as 
well for the administration of justice, as military 
prowess : and they now remain in the same state of 

** penury and content as the Germans, whose manner 
ot life tbey have adopted.'' Bcli, Gall. vi. 24. 
9 The inhabitants of Switzerland, then extending 

further than at present towards Lyons, 



72 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



by the Boii ' ; both Gallic tribes. The 
name of Boiemum still remains, a memorial 
of the ancient settlement^ though its inhabi- 
tants are now changed ■ . But whether 
the Aravisci ' migrated into Pannonia from 
the Osi-5 a German nation ; or the Osi 

^ A nation of Gauls, bordering on the Helvetii, as 
appears from Strabo and Caesar. After being con- 
quered by Csesar, the iEdui gave them a settlement in 
the country now called the Bourbonnois. The name 
of their German colony, Boiemum, is still extant in 
Bohemia, The sera at which the Helvetii and Boii 
penetrated into Germany, is not ascertained. It seems 
probable, however, that it was in the reign of Tarquinius 
Priscus ; for at that time, as we are told by Livy, Am- 
bigatus, king of the Bituriges (people of Berry J sent 
his sister's son Sigovesus into the Hercynian forest, 
with a colony, in order to exonerate his kingdom which 
was overpeopled. Liv, v. 33 & seq. 

2 In the time of Augustus, the Boii, driven from 
Boiemum by the Marcomanni, retired to Noricum, 
which from them was called Boioaria, now Bavaria. 

3 This people inhabited that part of Lower Hungary, 
now called the Palatinate ofPilis, 

* Towards the end of this treatise, Tacitus seems 
himself to decide this point, observing that their use of 
the Pannonian language, and acquiescence in paying 
tribute, prove the Osi not to be a German nation. 
They were settled beyond the Marcomanni and Quadi, 
and occupied the northern part of Transdanubian Hun- 
gary ; perhaps extending to Silesia, where is a place 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS, 73 



into Germany from the Aravisci, the lan- 
guage, constitution, and manners of both 
being still the same, is a matter of uncer- 
tainty ; for in their pristine state of equal 
indigence and equal liberty, the same 
advantages and disadvantages were com- 
mon to both sides of the river. The Tre- 
veri ' and Nervii ^ are ambitious of being 
thought of German origin ; as if the repu- 
tation of this descent would distinguish 
ttiem from the Gauls, whom they resemble 
in person and effeminacy. The Vangiones, 
Triboci, and Nemetes % who inhabit the 
banks of the Rhine, are without doubt 
German tribes. Nor do the Ubii % although 

called Ossen in the Dutchy of Gels, famous for salt 
aiid glass works. The learned Pelloutier, however, con- 
tends that the Osi were C^erinans ; but with less 
probability. 

^ The inhabitants of the modern Diocese of Treves. 
^ Those of Cambresis and Hainault, 
' Those of the Dioceses of Worms, Strashur^y and 
Spires^ 

® Those of the Dtocesc of Cologne, The Ubii, mi- 
grating from Germany to Gaul, on account of the en- 
mity of the Catti, and their own attachment to the 
Roman interest, were received under the protection of 
Marcns Agrippa, in the year of Rome 717. Sirabo, iv. 
p. 194. Agrippina the wife of Claudius, and mother 
H 



74 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



ihey have been thought worthy of being 
made a Roman colony, and are pleased in 
bearing the name of Agrippinenses from 
their founder, blush to acknowledge their 
origin from Germany ; from whence they 
formerly migrated, and for their approved 
fidelity were settled on the banks of the 
Rhine, not that they might be guarded 
themselves, but that they might serve as 
a guard against invaders. 

Of all these people, the most famed for 
valour are the Batavi ; whose territories 
comprise but a small part of the banks of 
the Rhine, but consist chiefly of an island 
within it These were formerly a tribe 
of the Catti ; but, on account of a domestic 
:sedition, removed to their present settle- 
ments, in order to become a part of the 
Roman empire. They are still in posses- 
sion of this honour, as well as of a memo- 
rial of their ancient alliance ^ ; for they are 

of Nero, who was born among them, obtained the 
settlement of a colony there, which was called after 

her name. 

9 Now the Betuwe, part of the provinces of Holland 
and Gelderland. 

^ Hence the Batavi are termed, in an ancient insciip- 
tioiij the brothers and friends of the Roman people," 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



75 



neither insulted by taxes, nor oppressed 
by farmers of the revenue. Exempt from 
burthens and contributions^ and kept apart 
for military use alone, they are reserved, 
like a magazine of arms, for the purposes 
of war. The nation of the Mattiaci ^ is 
under a degree of subjection of the same 
kind : for the greatness of the Roman 
people has carried a reverence for the 
empire beyond the Rhine and the ancient 
limits. The Mattiaci, therefore, though 
occupying a settlement and borders ' on 

* This nation inhabited part of the countries now 
railed the Weteraw, Hesse^ Isenburg, and Fulda, la 
this territory was' Mattium, now Marpurg, and the 
Pontes Mattiaci, now Wishaden^ near J^Ientz, 

3 The several people of Germany had their respectiiJfi 
borders, which they defended by preserving thein in a 
desart and uncultivated state. Thus Csesar, Beli, Gall, 
iv. 3. " They think it the greatest honour to a nation 

to have as wide an extent of vacant land around their 
" dominions as possible ; by which it is indicated, that 

a great number of neighbouring communities are 

unable to withstand them. On this account, the 
" Suevi are said to have, on one side, a tract of GOO 
*' (some learned yneii think we should read GO) miles 
" desart for their boundaries/' In another place, Cassar 
mentions as an additional reason for this policy, that 
they think themselves thereby rendered secure from the 
danger of sudden incursions. Bell, GalL vi, 13. 

H 2 



76 MAJVNERS OF THE GERMAN^ 



the opposite side of tlie river, act from 
inclination and attachment with us ; re- 
sembliDg the Batavi in every respect^ 
except that, still enjoying the soil and air 
of their own country, they receive from 
them a superior degree of vigour \ I 
would not reckon among the people of 
Germany those who possess the Decumate 
lands % although inhabiting between the 
llhine and Danube. Some of the most 
unsteady of the Gauls, rendiered during 
through indigence, siezed upon this dis^- 
tiict of uncertain property. Afterwards, 

* The difference between tBe low situation and pioist 
air of Batavia, and the high and dry country of the 
Mattiaci, will sufficiently justify this remark, in the 
opinion of those who allow any thing ta the infiuence 
of climate, 

^ Now Swabia. When the Marcomanni, towards 
the end of the reign of Augustus, quitting their settle- 
ments near the Rhine, migrated to Bohemia, the iands^ 
they left vacant were occupied by some unsettled Gaul^ 
among the, Rauraci and Sequani. They seem to have 
been called Decumates, fJDecimatedJ because the 
inhabitants, liable to the incursions of the Germans, 
paid a tithe of their products to be received under the 
protection of the Romans. Hadrian defended them by a 
rampart, which extended from Neustadt, a town on the 
Danube near the mouth of the river Altmukl^ to the 
X^eckar near Wimpfen; a space of sixty French leagues. 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 77 



our boundary line being advanced, and a 
chain of fortified posts established, it be- 
came a skirt of the empire, and part of the 
province ^ 

Beyond these are the Catti ' . whose set- 
tlements, beginning' from the Hercynian 
forest, are in a tract of country less open 
and marshy than those of the other wide- 
extended states of Germany ; for it consists 
of a continued range of hills, which gra- 
dually decline ; and the Hercynian fore&t ' 

^ Of Upper Germany. 

" The Catti possessed a large territory between the 
Rhine, Mayne, and Sala, and the Hartz forest on this 
side the Weser ; where are now the countries of Hesse, 
Thuringia, part of Paderhorn^ of Fulda, and of Fran^ 
conia. It is to be remarked, that learned writers have 
frequently noted, that what Caesar, Florus, and Ptolemy 
have said of the Suevi, is to be understood of the Catti. 
Leibnitz supposes the Catti were so called from the 
active animal which they resemble in name, the German 
for cat being Catte, or Hessen, 

The Catti are supposed to have made a settlement 
in the part of Scotland called Cathness ; the Caiiu of 
the Highlanders. Pennant's Tour 1769. 4to. p. 168. 

^ Pliny, who was well acquainted with Germany, 
gives a very striking description of the Hercynian forest. 

The vast trees of the Hercynian forest, untouched lor 
*' ages, and as old as the world, by their almost immortal 

destiny exceed common wonders. Not to mention 
H 3 



7S 



MANNERS OF THE GERIVIANS. 



both accompanies and leaves behind its 
Catti^, This people are distinguished 
by the firmness of their bodies, the com^ 
pactness of their limbs, the fierceness of 
their countenances, and the superior vigour 
of their minds \ Compared with the rest 
of the Germans, they have a considerable 
share of understanding and address: they 
appoint select persons to commands, and 
obey them when appointed ; know theV 
stations • discern advantages ; repress mi- 

^^circumstances which would not be credited, it is 
certain that hills are raised by the repercussion 
of their meeting roots y and where the earth does 
not follow thenj, arches are formed as high as the 
branches, which, struggling^, as it were, with each 
other, are bent into the form of open gates, so wide, 
that troops of horse may ride under them." xvi, 2» 
^ This personificatioij, though appearing harsh in the 
English, I thought proper tt) preserve in the translation, 
since otherwise the reader would not have a proper idea 
of the boldness and vigour of Tacitus's style. J. A. 

* A fine description of the form of body proper for a 
soldier, resembling this, but more particular, is given 
by Vegetius, i. 6, Let the youth devoted to the 
labours of Mars, have vigilant eyes, an erect neck, a 
broad chesty muscular shoulders, strong fingers, long 
arms, a belly of moderate bulk, rather slender legs, 
with the calves, and feet, not distended with superfluous 
flesh, but hard with compacted sinews*" 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 79 



timely ardour; distribute properly the 
business of the day ; intrench themselves 
against the night; account fortune dubious, 
and valour only secure; and what is ex- 
tremely rare, and only a consequence of 
discipline, depend more upon the general 
than the army*. Their force consists en- 
tirely in infantry ; who, besides their arms^ 
are obliged to carry tools and provisions. 
Other nations appear to go to a battle ; 
the Catti, to war. Excursions and casual 
encounters are rare among them. It is, 
indeed, peculiar to cavalry soon to obtain, 
and soon to yield the victory. Speed bor- 
ders upon timidity ; slow movements are 
more akin to steady valour. 

A custom follow ed among the other Ger- 
man nations only by a few individuals, of a 
more daring spirit than the rest, is adopted 
by general consent among the Catti. From 
the time they arrive at years of matu- 
rity , they let their hair and beard grow'; 

2 Florus, ii. 18. well expresses this thought by the 
sentence Tanti exercitus^ quanti imperator.'^ *' An 
army is worth so much as its general is.'* 
^ Thus CiviUs is said by our author (Hist, iv. 61.) 
to have let his hair and beard grow in consequence of a 
private vow. Thus, in Paul Warnefrid's History of 



80 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS, 

and do not lay aside this votive badge^ 
consecrated to valour^ till tliey have slain 
an enemy. Over blood and spoils they 
unveil the countenance, and declare that 
" thay have at length paid the debt of 
existence, and have proved themselves 
worthy of their country and parents." The 
cow^ardly and effeminate continue in their 
squalid disguise. The bravest among them 
wear dso an iron ring * (a mark of igno- 

the Lombards, iii. 7. it Is related, that " Six thousand 
Saxons who stirviyed the war, vowed that they wo«ld 
" never cut their hair nor shave their beards till they 
" had been revenged of their enemies, the Suevi.'* A 
later instance of this custom is mentioned by Strada 
fBelL Belg. vii. p. 344.) of William Lume, one of the 
Counts of Marc, " who bound himself by a vow not to 
" cut his hair till he had revenged the deaths of Egmont 
and Horn." 

* The iron ring see^is to have been a badge of 
slavery. This custom was revived in later times, but 
rather with a gallant than a military intention. Thus, 
in the year 1414, John, Duke of Bourbon, in order to 
ingratiate himself with his mistress, vowed, together 
with sixteen knights and gentlemen, that they would 
wear, he and the knights a gold ring, the gentlemen 
a silver one, round their left legs, every Sunday for 
two years, till they had met with an equal number of 
knights and gentlemen to contend with them in a tourna- 
ment. Vertot Mem, de VAcad, des Inscr, Tom, ii. p, 595. 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. Si 

miny in that nation) as a kind of chain, till 
they have released themselves by the 
slaughter of a foe. Many of the Cattt 
choose this distinction, and grow hoary 
under snch insignia^ marked out both to 
foes and friends. By these, in every en- 
gagement, the attack is begun : their's is 
the front of the battle, offering a new 
spectacle of terror. Even in peace they 
do not relax the severity of their ap- 
pearance. They have no house, land, or 
domestic cares : they are maintained by 
whomsoever they visit ; lavish of another^s 
property, regardless of their own ; till the 
languor of old age renders them unequal 
to such a rigid course of military virtue \ 
Next to the Catti, on the banks of the 
Rhine, where, now settled in its channel, 
it is become a sufficient boundary, the 
Usipii and Tencteri % inhabit. The Tcno- 

* It was this nation of Catti, which, about 150 yeats 
afterwards, uniting- with the remains of the Cherusci 
on this side the Weser, the Attuarii, Sicarabri, Cha- 
mavi, Bructeri, and Chauci, entered into the Francic 
league, and conquering the Romans, siezed upon Gaul. 
From them are derived the name, manners, and laws of 
the French. 

^ These two tribes, united by a community of wars 



82 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANg. 



teri, besides the usual military reputatiooy 
are famed for excelling in the discipline 
of their cavalry ; nor is the infantry of the 
Catti in higher estimation than the horse 
i of the Tencteri. Their ancestors esta- 
\blished it, and were imitated by posterity. 
Horsemanship is the sport of their children, 
the point of emulation of their youth, and 
the exercise in which their old men per- 
severe. Horses are solemnly bequeathed 
by parents along with the domestics, the 
household goods, and the rights of inheri- 
tance: they do not, however, like other 
things, go to the eldest son, but to the 
bravest and most warlike^ 

Contiguous to the Tencteri were for- 
Bierly the Bructeri ^ ; but we are now in- 

and misfortunes, had formerly been driven from their 
settlements on the Rhine a little below Mentz. They 
then, according to Csssar, (BelL Gall, iv. 1. & seq.) 
occupied the territories of the Menapii on both sides 
the Rhine, Stil! proving unfortunate, they obtained 
the lands of the Sirambri, who, in the reign of Augustus, 
were removed on this side the Rhine by Tiberius : these 
were the present counties of Berg, Mark^ Lipp, and 
Waldeck ; and the bishopric of Paderborn. 

7 Their settlements were between the rivers Rhine, 
iippe (Luppia)j and Ems (Amisia), and the province 
of Frizi?land ; now the countries of Westphalia^ and 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



83 



formed that the Chamavi and Angrivarii % 
migrating into their country, have expelled 
and entirely extirpated them ^ ; with the 
concurrence of the neighbouring nations, 
induced either by hatred of their arrogance ' , 

Ocer-Issel. Alting- [Notit, German. Infer, p. 20.) 
supposes they derived their name from Broekcn^ or 
Bruchen, marshes, on account of their frequency in that 
tract of country. 

® Before this migration, the Chamavi were settled on 
the Ems, where at present are Litigen and Osnahriig ; 
the Angrivarii, on the Weser (Yisurgis), where are 
Minden and S-chaicenhurg, A more ancient migration 
of the Chamavi to the banks of the Rhine is cursorily 
mentioned by Tacitus, Aimal, xiii. 55. The Angrivarii 
were afte/wards called Angrarii, and became part of the 
Saxon r ition. 

9 They were not so entirely extirpated that no relics 
of them remained. They were even a conspicuous part 
of the Francic league, as before related. Claudian, 
also, in his panegyric on the fourth consulate of Hono- 
rius, v. 450, mentions them. 

Venit accola sylvac 
Bructerus Hcrcynia?. 

*-Tlie Bructerian, borderer on the Hercynian forest, came." 

After their expulsion, they settled, according to Eccard, 
between Cologne and Hesse. 

^ The Bructeri were under regal government, and 
maintained many wars against the Romans. Hence 
their arrogance and power. Before they were destroyed 
by their countrymen^ Vestricius Spurinna terrified them 



84 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS* 



love of plunder, or the favour of the gods 
towards the Romans. For they even gra- 
tified us with the spectacle of a battle, in 
which above sixty thousand Germans were 
slain, not by Roman arms, but, what was 
still greater, by mutual hostilities, as it 
were for our pleasure and entertainment \ 
May these nations retain and perpetuate, if 
not an affection for us, yet an animosity 
against each other ; since, while the fate of 
the empire is thus urgent ", fortune can 

into submission without an action, and had on that 
account a triumphal statue decreed him. Pliny the 
younger mentions this fact, Book ii. Epist, 7. Spu- 

rinna settled the king of the Bructeri in his kingdom 
" by force of arms ; and obtained the noblest kind of 
^* victory over this ferocious people, subduing them by 

the mere terror of his military preparations.'^ 

^ An allusion, probably, to gladiatorial spectacles. 
This slaughter happened near the canal of Drtisus, 
where the Roman guard on the Rhine could be spectators 
of the battle. The account of it came to Rome in the 
first year of Trajan. 

^ As this treatise was written in the reign of Trajan, 
when the affairs of the Romans appeared unusually 
prosperous, some critics have imagined that Tacitus 
wrote vigentibus fiourishing" instead of urgentihus 

urgent.'* But it is sufficiently evident, from other 
passages, that the causes which were operating gradually, 
but surely, to the destruction of the Roman empire, did 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



85 



bestow no higher benefit upon us, than the 
discord of our enemies. 

The Angrivarii and Chamavi are termi- 
nated backwards by the Dulgibini, Cha- 
saurii % and other nations less known \ 
In front, the Frisii ^ succeed ; who are 
distinguished by the appellations of greater 

not escape the perretration of Tacitus, even when dis* 
guised by th« most flattering appearances. The common 
reading is therefore, probably, right. J. A, 

* These people first inhabited near the head of the 
Lippe; and then removed to the settlements of the 
Chamavi and Angrivarii, who had expelled the Bructeri. 
They appear to have been the same with those whom 
Velleius Paterculus, ii. 105. calls the Attuarii, and by 
that name entered into the Francic league. Strabo calls 
them Chattuarii. 

* Namely, the Ansibarii and Tubantes. The Ansi- 
barii orAmsibarii are thought by Alting to have derived 
their name from their neighbourhood to the river Ems 
(Amisia) ; and the Tubantes, from their frequent change 
of habitation, to have been called Tho Bfnten, or the 
wandering troops, and to have inhabited where now is 
Drente in Over-IsseL Among these nations, Fursten- 
burg (Monum, Paderborn.J enumerates the Ambrones, 
borderers upon the river Ambrus, now Enwieren, 

^ The Frizelanders. The lesser Frisii were settled 
on this side, the greater, on the other, of the Flevum 
(Zuyder-zee.J 

I 



86 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



and lesser, from their proportional power. 
The settlements of both stretch along the 
borders of the Rhine to the Ocean ; and 
include, besides, vast lakes % which have 
been navigated by Roman fleets. We have 
even explored the Ocean itself on that side ; 
and fame reports that columns of Hercules ^ 
are still remaining on that coast ; whether 
that Hercules was ever there in reality, or 
that whatever great and magnificent is any 
where met with, is, by common consent, 
ascribed to his renowned name. The at- 
tempt ^f Drusus Germanicus ^ to make 

7 In the time cff the Jlomans this country was covered 
by vast nieers, or lakes ; which were made still larger 
by frequent inundations of the sea. Of these, one so 
late as 1530 overwhelmed 72 villages ; and another, still 
>inore terrible, in 1569, laid under water great part of 
the sea-coast of Holland, and almost all Frizeland, in 
which alone 20,000 persons were drowned. 

s Wherever the land seemed to terminate, and it 
appeared impossible to proceed farther, maritime nations 
have feigned there were pillars of Hercules. These ce- 
lebrated by the Frisians must have been at the extremity 
of Frizeland, and not in Sweden and the Cimmerian 
promontory, as Rudbeck supposes. 

9 Drusus, the brother of Tiberius, and father of 
jGermanicusj imposed a tribute on the Frisians, as men- 



7.ANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 87 



discoveries in these parts was suffieiently 
daring ; but the Ocean opposed any further 
inq,uiry into itself and Hercules. None 
have since repeated it ; and it has been 
thought more pious and reverential to be- 
lieve the actions of the gods, than to inves- 
tigate them. 

Hitherto Ave have traced the Western 
side of Germany. It turns from thence 
-with a vast sweep to the North : and first 
occurs the country of the Chauci which, 

Honed in Tacitus's Annals , iv. 72. and performed other 
eminent services in Germany, whence he was himself 
styled Germanicus. 

^ The Chauci extended along the sea-coast from the 
JEms to the Elbe (Albis) ; whence they bordered on all 
the fore-mentioned nations, between which and th« 
Chernsci they came round to the Catti. Tlie Chauci 
were distinguished into greater and lesser. The greater, 
according to Ptolemy, inhabited between the JFestr 
and Elbe; the lesser, between the Wescr and Ems; 
but Tacitus (AnnalSy xi. 19.) seems to reverse this 
order. Alting supposes the Chauci had their name from 
Kaukeiiy signifying persons eminent for valour and fide- 
lity, which agrees with the character Tacitus gives 
them. Others derive it from Kauk, an owl, with a 
reference to the enmity of that animal to cats (Catti). 
Others, from Kaiten, daws, of which there are great 
numbers on their coast. Phny has admirably described 
the country and manners of the maritime Chauci^ in Lis 

1 2 



88 MANNERS OF THE GERM ANS. 



though it begins immediately from Frisia^ 
and occupies part of the shore, yet stretches 
so far as to border on. all the nations^ 



aceount of people who live withoiit any trees or fruit- 
"bearing vegetables,. In the North are the nations of 

the Chauci, who are divided into greater and lesser. 

Here, the Ocean, having a prodigious flux and reflux 
" twice in the space of every day and night, rolls over 
" an immense tract, leaving it a matter of perpetual 

doubt whether it is a part of the land or sea. In this 
" spot, the wretched natives, occupying either the tops 
" of hills, or artificial mounds of turf, raised out of 

reach of the highest tides, build their small cottages ; 

which appear like sailing vessels when the water 

covers the circumjacent gi-ouad ; and like wrecks. 

when it has retired. Here from their huts they pursue 

the fish, continually flying from them with the waves. 

They do not,, like their neighbours, possess cattle, 
" and feed on milk ; nor have they a warfare io maintain. 
*^ against wild beasts ; for every fruit of the earth is far 

removed from them. With flags and, sea-weed they 

twist cordage for their flshing^nets. For fuel they use 
*^ a kind of mud, taken up by hand, and dried, ratheir 
'Mn the wind than the sun : with this earth they heat 

their food, and warm their bodies, stiffened by the 
" rigorous North. Their only drink is rain-water coU 

lected in ditches at the thresholds of their doors. Yel 

this miserable people, if conquered to day by the^ 
" Roman arras, would call themselves slaves* Thus il 

is, that fortune spares many to their own punish.-* 

meat." Hist, Nat. %y'u h 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



89 



before-mentioned, till it winds round so as 
to meet the territories of the Catti. This 
immense tract is not only possessed, but 
filled, by the Chauci ; a people the noblest 
of the Germans, who choose to maintain 
their greatness by justice rather than vio- 
lence. Without ambition, without ungo- 
verned desires, quiet and retired, they 
excite no wars, they are guilty of no rapine 
or plunder ; and it is a principal argument 
of their power and bravery, that the supe- 
riority they possess has not been acquired 
by injuries. Yet all have arms in readi- 
ness • ; and, if necessary, an army is soon 
raised : for they abound in men and horses ; 
and maintain their military reputation even 
in inaction. 

Bordering on the Chauci and Catti, are 
the Cherusci ' ; who, for want of an enemy, 

2 On (his account, fortified posts were established by 
the Romans to restrain the Chauci ; who by Lucan are 
called Cayci in the following passage : 

Et vos crini^eros bell is arcere Caycos 
Oppositi. Phar». i. 463. 

You too, towVds Rome advance, ye warlike baud, 
That wont the shaggy Cauci to withstand. RowE. 

^ The Cherusci, at that time, dwelt between the 
Weser and the Elbe, where now are Liineburgj Brims'^ 
i3 



90 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



long cherished a too lasting and enfeebling 
peace : a state more flattering than secure ; 
since the repose enjojed amidst ambitious 
and powerful neighbours is treacherous ; 
and when matters come to be decided by 
force, moderation and probity are name^ 
appropriated by the stronger party. Thus, 
the Cherusci^ who formerly bore the titles 
ofjmt and upright^ are now charged with 
cowardice and folly ; and the good fortune 
of the Catti who subdued them has grown 
into wisdom. The ruin of the Cherusci 
involved that of the Fosi % a neighbouring 

tvick^ and part of tbe Marche of Brandenhurg on this 
side the Elbe. In the reign of Augustus they occupied 
a more extensive tract ; reaching even on this side the 
Weser, as appears from the accounts of the expeditions 
of Drusus, given by Dio and Velleius Paterculus : unless, 
as Dithmar observes, what is said of the Cherusci oa 
this side the Weser^ relates to the Dulgibini, their depen- 
dents. For, according to Strabo, Varus was cut off by 
the Cherusci, and the people subject to them. The 
brave actions of Arminius, the celebrated chief of the 
Cherusci, are related by Tacitus in the 1st and 2nd 
book of his Annals. 

^ Glover, and several others, suppose the Fosi i& 
have been the same with the ancient Saxons ; but since 
they bordered on the Cherusci, the opinion of Leibnitz 
is nearer the truth, that they inhabited the banks of the 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



91 



tribe, equal partakers of their adversity^ 
although they had enjoyed an inferior share 
of their prosperity. 

In the same quarter of Germany, adja- 
cent to the Ocean, the Cimbri ' inhabit ; a 
small state at present, but great in re- 
nown ^ ; of which extensive vestiges still 
remain, in encampments and lines on either 

river Fusa, which enters the Aller (Allera) at Cellae ; 
and were a sort of appendage to the Cherusci, as 
Hildesheim now is to Brunswick, The name of Saxons 
is later than Tacitus, and was not known till the reign 
of Antoninus Pius, at which period they poured forth 
from the Cimbric Chersonesus, and alterwards, in con- 
junction with the Angles, seized upon Britain. 

^ The name of this people still exists ; and the country 
they inhabited is called the Cimbric Chersonesus, or 
Peninsula ; comprehending Jutland, Sleswig, and 
Holstein. The renown and various fortune of the 
Cimbri is briefly, but accurately, related by Mallet, in 
the Introduction to the History of Denmark. 

^ Though at this time they were greatly reduced by 
migrations, inundations, and wars ; they afterwards 
revived : and from this storehouse of nations came forth 
the Franks, Saxons, Normans, and various other tribes, 
which brought all Europe under Germanic sway. 

Their fame spread through Germany, Gaul, Spain, 
Britain, Italy, and as far as the Sea of Azoph (Palus 
Moeotis), whither, according to Posidonius, they pene- 
trated, and called the Cimmerian or Cimbrian Bosphorus 
after their own xuime. 



92 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



shore % from the compass of which the 
.^^trength and numbers of the nation may 
still be computed, and credit derived to the 
account of so prodigious an army. It was 
in the 640th jear of Rome that the arms of 
the Cimbri were first heard of, under the 
consulate of Csecilius Metellus and Papifius 
Carbo ; from which sera to the second con-- 
sulate of the emperor Trajan ^, is a period 
of near 210 years. So long has Germany 
been in conquering. During this long 
interval many mutual wounds have been 
inflicted. Not the Samnite, the Gartha- 

^ This is usually, and probably rightly, explained as 
relating to both shores of the Cimbric Chersonesus. 
Cluver and Dithmar, however, suppose that these en- 
campments are to be sought for either in Italy, upon 
the river Athesis f Adige J , or in Narbonnensian Gaul 
near Aquae Sextiae fAix in ProiJence), vi^here Florus, 
iii. 3. mentions that the Teutoni defeated by Marius 
took post in a valley with a river running through it. 
Of the prodigious numbers of the Cimbri who made 
this terrible irruption we have an account in Plutarch, 
who relates that their fighting men were 300,000, with 
a much greater number of women and children. Pint, 
MariiiSy p. 411. 

9 Nerva was consul the 4th time, and Trajan the 
2nd, in the 851st year of Rome; in which Tacitus com- 
posed this treatise. 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 95 



g-inian, Spain, Gaul, orParthia, have given 
more frequent alarms ; for the liberty of the 
Germans is more vigorous than the mo- 
narchy of the Arsacidse. What has the 
East, which has itself lost Pacorus, and 
suffered an overthrow from Ventidius to 
boast against us, but the slaughter of 
Crassus ? But the Germans, by the defeat 
or capture of Carbo % Cassius % Scauru& 

* After the defeat of P. Decidius Saxa, lieutenant of 
Syria, by the Parthians, and the seizure of Syria by 
Pacorus, son of king Orodes, P. Ventidius Bassus was 
sent there, who vanquished the Parthians, killed Pacorus,^ 
and entirely restored the Roman affairs. 

* The Epitome of Livy informs us, that " in the 
year of Rome 640, the Cirabri, a wandering tribe, 
made a praedatory incursion into Illyricum, where they 

*^ routed the consul Papirius Carbo with his army.'* 
According to Strabo, it was at Noreia, a town of the 
Taurisci, near Aquileia, that Carbo was defeated. In 
the succeeding years, the Cimbri and Teutoni ravaged 
Gaul, and brought great calamities on that country ; 
but at length, deterred by the unshaken bravery of the 
Gauls, they turned another way ; as appears from Csesar, 
BelL Gall. vii. 17. They then came into Italy, and 
sent ambassadors to the senate, demanding lands to settle 
on. This was refused ; and the consul M, Junius Silanus 
fought an unsuccessful battle with them, in the year of 
Rome 645. Epitome of Livy^y Ixv, 

^ L. Cassius, the consul in the year of Rome 647^ 



94 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



Aureliufe % Servilius C'depio and Cneiu^ 
Man I i us % depri ved the Roman peo- 

" was cut off with his army in the confines of the 
" Allobroges, by the Tigurine Gauls, a canton of the 

Helvetians (now the cantons of Zurich, Appenzell, 
" Schqffhausen, &c.) who had migrated from their 

settlements. The soldiers who survived the slaughter, 
" gave hostages for the payment of half they were 
" worth to be dismissed with safety." Ibid. Caesar 
further relates that the Roman army was passed under 
the yoke by the Tigurini. " This single canton, mi- 

grating from home, within the memory of our fathers, 
" slew the consul L. Cassius, and passed his army 
" under the yoke.'' Beii, Gall. i. V2, 

M. Aurelius Scaur us, the consul's lieutenant for 
rather consul, as he appears to have served that office 
in the year of Rome 646) was defeated and taken by the 
Cimbri ; and when, b^eing asked his advice, he dissuaded 
them from passing the Alps into Italy, assuring them 
the Romans were invincible, he was slain by a furious 
youth, named Boiorix. Epit. Livy^ Ixvii. 

^ Florus, in like manner, considers these two affairs 
separately. Neither could Silanus sustain the first 
"onset of the barbarians; nor Manlius, the second; 
" nor C^pio, the third." iii. 3. Livy joins them 
together. "By the same enemy [the Cijnhri) Cn. Man- 
" bus the consul, and Q. Servilius Csepio the proconsul, 

were defeated in an engagement, and both dispossessed 

of their camps." Epit. Ixvii. Paulus Orosius relates 
the affair more particularly. Manlius the consul, 

and Q. Csepio proconsul, being sent against the 

Ciiiibri, Teutones^ Tigurini, and Ambron^, Gaulish 



MANNERS OF THE GERiMANS. 95 



pie ^ of five consular armies ; and afterwards 
-took from Augustus himself Varus with 
three legions ^ Nor did Cains Marius' 

and German nations, who had conspired to extinguish 
the Roman empire, divided their respective provinces 
by the river Rhone. Here, the most violent dissen- 
tions prevailing between them, they were both over- 
come, to the great disgrace and danger of the Roman 
name. According to Antias, 80,000 Romans and 
allies were slaughtered. Csepio, by whose rashness 
" this misfortune was occasioned, was condemned, and 
*' his property confiscated by order of the Roman people/' 
Lib. V. 16. This happened in the year of Rome 649 ; 
and the anniversary was reckoned among the unlucky 
days. 

^ The republic ; in Opposition to Rome when go- 
verned by emperors. 

7 This tragical catastrophe ^o deeply affected Au- 
gustus, that, as Suetonius informs us, he was said 
" to have let his beard and hair ^row for several months • 
during which, he, at times, struck his head against 
*Mhe doors, crying out. Varus, restore my lei^ions ! 

and ever after kept the anniversary as a day of mourn- 
" ing." Aug, xxiii. The finest history piece, perhaps, 
ever drawn by a writer, is Tacitus\s description of the 
army of Germanicus visiting the field of battle, six years 
after, and performing funeral obsequies to the scattered 
remains of their slaughtered countrymen. AnnaL i. 61. 
^ After so many misfortunes, the Roman people 
thought no general so capable of repelling such for- 
" midable enemies, as Marius.'' Nor was the public 
opinion falsified. In his 4th consulate, in the year of 



96 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 

in Italy, the deified Julius^ in Gaul, or 

Rome 652, " Marius engaged the Teutoni beyond the 
Alps near Aquse Sextise /^Aix in Provence J ^ killing, 
" on the day of battle and the following day, above 
" 150,000 of the enemy, and entirely cutting off the 
*^ Teutonic nation." Velkius Paferculus, ii. 12, Livy 
says there were 200,000 slain, and 90,000 taken pri* 
soners. The succeeding year, he defeated the Cimbri « 
who had penetrated into Italy and crossed the Adige, 
in the Raudian plain, where now is Rubio, killing and 
taking prisoners upwards of 100,000 men. That he 
did not, however, obtain an unbought victory over 
this warlike people, may be conjectured from the re- 
sistance he met with even from their women. We 
are told by Fiorus, iii. 3. that " he was obliged to sus* 
tain an engagement with their wives, as well as 
themselves ; who, entrenching themselves on all sides 
*^ with waggons and cars, fought from them, as from 
" towers, with lances and poles. Their death was no 
*^ less glorious than their resistance. For when they 
could not obtain from Marius what they requested by 
an embassy, their liberty, and admission into the 
" Vestal priesthood (which, indeed, could not lawfully 
be granted) ; after strangling their infants, they 
either fell by mutual wounds, or hung themselves on 
trees or the poles of their carriages in ropes made of 
their own hair. King Boiorix was slain, not unre- 
venged, fighting bravely m the field/' On account 
of these great victories, Marius, in the year of Rome 
652, triumphed over the Teutoni, Ambroni, and 
Cimbri. 

9 In the 596th year of Rome, Julius Caesar, defeated 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



97 



i>rusiis S Tiberius, or tj^manicu^* in 
their own country, defrat them without 
loss. 1 he subsequent mighty threats of 
Caligula terminated in ridicule. Then 
succeeited tranquillity ; till seizing the 
occasion of our discords and civil wars, 
they forced the winter-quarters of the 
legions', and even aimed at the possession 
of Gaul ; and again expel led f rom thence, 
they ha\^ in latter times been rather tri- 
umphed over' than vanquished. 

are now to speak of the Suevi ' ; who 

Ariovistirs, a German king, near Dampierre in the 
Franche-Comte, and pursued his routed troops with 
great slaughter thirty miles towards the Rhine, fillino^ 
all that space with spoils and dead bodies. Bell, GalL 
i. 33 atid 52. He had before chastized the Tigurini, 
who, as already mentioned, had defeated and killed 
L, Cassius. 

^ Nero Claudius Drusus, who, on account of his 
exploits in Germany, obtained the surname of Ger- 
nianicu.s 

2 These princes, one, the brother, the other, thesoa 
of Drusus, both acquired great reputation by their wars 
in Germany. 

3 In the war of Civilis, related by Tacitus, Hist. 
iv. and v. 

* By Domitian^ as is more particularly mentioned ia 
the Life of Agricala. 

* The Suevi possessed that extensive tract of country 

K 



98 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



do not consist of a single tribe, like the 
Catti or Tencteri ; but occupy the greatest 
part of Germany, distributed into different 
names and nations, although all bearing 
the common appellation of Suevi. It is a 
characteristic of this people to wreathe their 
hair and tie it up in a knot. By this mark 
the Suevi are distinguished from the rest of 
the Germans ; and the freemen of the Suevi 
from the slaves ^ Among other nations, 
this mode, either on account of some rela- 
tionship with the Suevi, or, as is usual, 
from the force of imitation, is sometimes 
adopted ; but rarely, and only during the 
period of youth. The Suevi, even till they 
are hoary, turn back their bristling locks, 
and often tie it upon the top of the head 
only. The chiefs dress it with still greater 
care : and in this respect they study orna- 

iying between the Elbe, the Vistula, the Baltic Sea, 
and the Danube. Th^y formerly had spread still farther, 
reaching even to the Rhine. Hence, Strabo, Caesar, 
Florus, and others, have referred to the Suevi what 
related to the Catti. 

^ Among the Suevi, and also the rest of the Germans, 
the slaves seem to have been shaven ; or at least cropped 
6D short that they could not twist or tie up their hair 
in a kmU 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



99 



ment; though of a kind which does not 
injure them. For their design is not to 
inspire love : they decorate themselves in 
this manner as they proceed to war, in 
order to appear taller and more terrible ; 
and dress for the eyes of their enemies. 

The Semnones ^ assert themselves to be 
the most ancient and noble of the Suevi ; 
and their pretensions to antiquity are con- 
firmed by religion. At a stated time, all 
the people of the same lineage assemble by 
their delegates in a wood consecrated by 
the auguries of their forefathers and ancient 
terror ; and there, by the public slaughter 
of a human victim, celebrate the horrid 
origin of their barbarous rites. Another 
kind of reverence is paid to the grove. No 
person enters it without being bound with 
a chain, as an acknowledgement of his 
inferior nature, and the power of the deity 
residing there. If he accidentally fall, it is 
not lawful for him to rise, but he mu;st roll 
along the ground : and the whole of their 

' The Semnones inhabited both banks of the Viadrus 
(Oder J ; the country which is now part of Pomerania^ 
of tht Marche of Brandenburg ^ and of Lusatia. 
K 2 



100 MANNERS OF THK GERMANS. 



superstition has this import; that from this 
spot the Dation derives its origin ; that here 
is the residence of the supreme Governor 
of all % and that every thing else is subject 
and subordinate to him. These opinions 
receive additional authority from the power 
of the SeEuiones, who inhabit a hundred 
cantons, and from the great body they 
compose, consider themselves as the head 
of the SuevL 

The Langobardi ^, on the other hand, 
are ennobled by the smallness of their 

* This idea of a God the governor and lord of all, is 
the original religious faith of mankind ; which shines 
the clearest and brightest, the more ancient and pure 
are the memorials of nations. It was peculiarly so 
among the Scythians, of whom the Germans were a 
branch. 

^ la the reign of Augustus, the Langobardi dwelt on 
this side the Elbe, between Luneburg and Magdeburg* 
When conquered and driven beyond the Elbe by Tibe- 
rius, they occupied that part ©f the country where are 
now Prignitz, Kuppin^ andpart of the Middle Marche^ 
They afterwards founded the Lombard kingdom in 
Italy ; which, in the year of Christ 774, was destroyed 
by Charlemagne, who took their king Desiderius, and 
subdued all Italy, The laws of the Langobardi are 
still extant, and may be met with in Lindenbrog, The 
Burgundians are not mentioned by Tacitus, probably 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 101 



numbers ; since, though surrounded by 
many powerful nations, they derive secu- 
rity, not from obsequiousness, but from 
war and daring. The neighbouring Ren- 
digni \ and the Aviones % Angli % Varini, 
Eudoses, Suardones, and Nuithones are 

because they were then an inconsiderable people. Af- 
terwards, joining with the Langobardi, they settled oa 
the Decuman lands and the Roman boundary. They 
from thence made an irruption into Gaul, and seized 
that country which is still named from them Burgundy^ 
Their laws are likewise extant. 

' From Tacitus's description, the Reudigni must 
have dwelt in part of the present Dutchy of Mecklen^ 
hurgi 2ind of Laicenburg, They had before been settled 
on this side of the Elbe, on the sands of Luneburg. 

2 Perhaps the same people with those called by Ma- 
mertinus, in his Panegyric on Maximian, the Chaibones, 
From their vicinity to the fore-mentioned nations, they 
must have inhabited part of the Dutchy of Mecklen^ 
burg. They had formerly dwelt on this side the Elbe, 
on the banks of the river llmenavia in Luneburg; 
which is now called Ava ; whence, probably, the name 
of the people. 

* Inhabitants of what is now part of Ilolstein and 
Sleswich ; in which tract is still a district called Angehh 
between Flensborg and Sleswtck. In the fifth century, 
the Angles, in conjunction with the Saxons, migrated 
into Britain, and perpetuated their name by giving 
appellation to England, 

^ From the enumeration of Tacitus, and the situation 
k3 ^ 



102 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS, 



defended by rivers or forests. Nothing 
remarkable occurs in any of these ; except 
that they unite in the worship of Herthuni * 
or Mother Earth ; and suppose her to 
interfere in the affairs of men, and visit 
the different nations. In an island ^ of 
the Ocean stands a sacred and no violated 
grove, in which is a consecrated chariot^ 

of tlie other tribes, it appears, that the Eadoses must 
have occupied the modern Wismar and Rostock : the 
Suardones, Stralsund, Swedish Pomerania, and part 
of the Hither Pomerania, and of the Uckerane Marche: 
Eccard, however, supposes these nations were much 
Hiore widely extended ; and that the Eudoses dwelt 
upon the Oder ; the Suardones, upon the Warte ; the 
Nuithones, upon the Netze, 

^ The ancient name of the goddess Herthum, still 
subsists in the German Erde, pronounced Erdt^ and in 
the English Earth. Almost all idolatrous nations have 
Biade the Earth an object of worship. Thus, among 
the Romans, we find that Sempronius, after subduing 
the Picentines, *^ propitiated the goddess Tellus [Earth) 
** by a temple which he had vowed." Florus, i. 19. 

^ Many suppose this island to have been the isle oj^ 
Mugen in the Baltic sea. It is more probable, however^ 
ithat it was an island near the mouth of the Elbe, now 
^called the isle of Helgeland^ or Heilegeland^ (Holy 
island}. Besides the proof arising from the name, the? 
situation agrees better with that of the nations bcforej 
«ia?smfraieJ» 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



103 



covered with a veil, which the priest alone 
is permitted to tourh. Ht^ perceives when 
the god'less enters this secret recess ; and 
with profound veneration attends the ve- 
hicle, which is drawn by yoked cows. At 
this season^ all is joy; and every place 
which the goddess deigns to visit is a scene 
of festivity. No wars are undertaken ; 
arms are untouched ; and every hostile 
weapon is shut up. Peace and repose are 
then only known ; then only loved : till at 
length the same priest reconducts the god- 
dess, satiated with mortal intercourse, to 
her temple ®. The chariot, with its cover- 
ing, and, if we may believe it, the goddess 
herself, then undergo ablution in a secret 
lake. This office is performed by slaves, 

Olaus Rudbeck contends that this festival was cele- 
brated in winter, and still continues in Scandinavia 
under the appellation of JuJifred, the peace of JuuL 
(Yule is the term used for Christmas season in the old 
English and Scottish dialects,) I5ut ibis feast was 
solemnized not in honour of the Earth, but of the Sun, 
called by them Thor or Taranim, The festival of 
Herthum was held later, in the month of February - 
as may be seen in Mallet's Introduct, to the Hist, of 
Denmark, 

^ The grove before-mentioned. 



104 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



whom the same lake instantly swallows up. 
Hence proceeds a mysterious horror ; and 
a holy ignorance of what that can be, 
which is beheld only by those who are 
about to perish. 

Towards this quarter, the Suevi extend 
into the interior parts of Germany. And 
first (to follow the course of the Danube, 
as we before did that of the Rhine) occur 
the Hermunduri ^ ; a people faithful to the 
Romans \ and on that account the only 
Germans who are admitted to commerce, 
not on the banks alone, but within our 

^ It is supposed that this people, on account of their 
valour, were called Heermanner ; corrupted by the 
Romans into Hermunduri. They were first settled be- 
tween the Elbe, the Sala, and Bohemia; where now 
are Anhalt^ Voightland, Saxony ^ part of MisniUy and 
©f Franconia, Afterwards, when the Marcomanni took 
possession of Bohemia, from which the Boii had been 
expelled by Maroboduus, the Hermunduri added their 
settlements to their own, and planted in them the 
Sueyian name, whence is derived the modern appellation 
of that country, Suahia, 

* They were so at that time ; but afterwards joined 
with the Marcomanni and other Germans against the 
Eomans in the time of Marcus Aurelius, who over- 
came them. 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



105 



territories^ and in the flourishing' colony ^ 
established in the province of Rsetia. They 
pass and repass at pleasure^ without being 
attended by a guard ; and while we exhibit 
to other nations our arms and camps alone, 
to these we lay open our houses and country 
seats, which they behold without coveting. 
In the country of the Hermunduri rises the 
Elbe ^ ; a river formerly celebrated and 
known among us, now only heard of. 
Contiguous to the Hermunduri are the 



' Augusta Vindelicorunfi, ncvr Augsburg ; a famous 
Romaa colony in the province of Raetia, of which 
Yindelica was then a part. 

^ Tacitus is greatly mistaken if he confounds the 
source of the Egra, which is in the country of the 
Hermunduri, with that of the Elbe, which rises in 
Bohemia. The Elbe had been formerly, as Tacitus 
observes, well known to the Romans by the victories of 
Drusus, Tiberius, and Domitius ; but afterwards, whew 
the increasing power of the Germans kept the Roman 
arms at a distance, it was only indistinctly heard of. 
Hence its source was probably inaccurately laid down 
in the Roman geographical tables. Perhaps, however, 
the Hermunduri, when they had served in the army of 
Maroboduus, received lands in that part of Bohemia in 
which the Elbe rises ; in which case there would be 
piistake in Tacitus's account. 



106 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



Narisci * ; and next to them, the Marco- 
iiianni ' and Quadi ^ Of these, the Mar- 
comanni are the most powerful and re- 
nowned ; and have even acquired the 
country which they inhabit by their valour 
in expelling the Boii \ Nor are the Na- 
risci and Quadi inferior in bravery * ; and 

* Inhabitants of that part of Bavaria which lies be- 
tween Bohemia and the Danube. 
^ Inhabitants of Bohemia^ 

^ Inhabitants of Moravia, and the part of Austria 
between it and the Danube. Of this people, Ammianus 
Marcellinus, in his account of the reign of Vaientinian 
and Valens, thus speaks. " A sudden commotion 

arose among the Quadi ; a nation at present of little 
" consequence, but which was formerly extremely 

warlike and potent, as their exploits sufficiently 

evince." xxix. 15. 

Their expulsion of the BoIi, who had given name 
to Bohemia, ha» been already mentioned in page 72. 
Before this period, the Marcomanni dwelt near the 
sources of the Danube, where now is the Dutchy of 
Wirtemburg ; and, as Dithmar supposes, on account of 
their inhabiting the borders of Germany, were called 
Marcmanner, from Marc (the same with the old English 
March) a border, or boundary. 

8 These people justified their military reputation by 
the dangerous war which, in conjunction with the Mar- 
comanni, they excited against the Romans, in the reign 
of Marcus Aurelius. 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS, 



107 



this is, as it were, the van of Germany as 
far as it is bordered by the Danube. 
Within our memory the Marcomanni and 
Quadi were governed by kings of their own 
nation, of the noble line of iMaroboduus ^ 
and Tudrus. They now submit even to 
foreigners ; but all the power of their kings 
depends upon the authority of the Romans ' . 
We seldom assist them with our arms, but 
frequently with our money, 

jVot inferior in strength are the interior 
nations of the Marsigni % Gothini % Osi % 
and Burii % who enclose the Marcomanni 
and Quadi behind. Of these, the Marsigni 

^ Of this prince, and his alhance with the Romans 
against Arniinius, mention is made by Tacitus, AnnaL i'u 

^ Thus Vannius was made king of the Quadi by 
Tiberius. Tacitus^ AnnaL ii. 63. At a later period, 
Antoninus Pius (as appears from a medal preserved io 
Spanheim) gave them Furtius for their king. And 
when they had expelled him, and set Ariogeesus on th« 
throne, Marcus Aurelius, to whom he was obnoxious, 
refused to confirm the election. Uio, Ixxi. 

* These people inhabited what is now Glatz, JagtrU" 
dorJ\ aiid part of Silesia, 

2 Inhabitants of part of Silesia, and of flungary. 

* Inhabitants of part of Hungary io the Dayiube, 

^ These were settled about the Crapack mountains, 
aad the sources of the Vistula, 



108 MANNERS OP THE GERMANS. 



and Burii in language^ and manners te^ 
semble the Snevi. TIse Gothini and Osi 
prove themselves not to be Germans, the 
first, by their use of the Gallic, the hecond5 
of the Pannonian tongue ; and hoth, by 
their subrnittiiig to pay tribute; which is 
levied on them, as aliens, partly by the 
Sarmatians, partly by the Quadi. The 
Gothini, to their additional disgrace, 
work iron mines ^ All these people in- 
habit but a small proportion of cham- 
paign country ; their settlements are chiefly 
among forests, and summits of hills. For 
Snevi is divided by a continued ridge of 

It is probable tbat the Suevi were distinguished 
from the rest of the Germans by a peculiar dialect, as 
well as by their dress and manners. 

^ Ptolemy mentions iron mines in or near the country 
©f the Quadi. I should imagine that the expression 
additional disgrace (or, more literally, which might make 
them more ashamed J does not refer merely to the slavery 
of working in mines, but to the cireumstaiice of theilf 
digging up iron, the 5;ubstance by means of which they 
might acquire freedom and independence. This is quite 
in the manner of Tacitus. The word Iron was figura* 
tively used by the ancients to signify military force in 
general. Thus Solon, in his well-known answer to 
Crsesus, observed to him that the nation which possessed 
more iron would be master of all bis gold, J, A» 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 109 



mountains * ; beyond which are various 
distinct nations. Of these, the Lygian ^ is 
the most extensive, and diffuses its name 
through several communities. It wilt be suf- 
ficient to name the most powerful of them — 
the Arii, Helvecones, Manimi, Elysii, and 
Naharvali \ In the country of the latter 
is a grove, consecrated to religious rites of 
great antiquity. A priest presides over 
them, dressed in woman's apparel ; but the 
gods worshipped there are said, according 
fo the Roman interpretation, to be Castor 
and Pollux. Their attributes are the same ; 
their name, Alcis\ No images, indeed, 

« The mountains between Moravia, Hungary, Silesia, 
and Bohemia. 

9 The Lygii inhabited what is now part of Silesia, 
of the New Marche, of Prussia and Poland on this 
side the Vistula. 

* These tribes were settled between the Oder and 
Vistula, where now are part of Silesia, of Branden^ 
burg, and of Poland. The Elysii are supposed to have 
given name to Silesia, 

- The Greeks and Romans, nnder the name of the 
Dioscuri, or Castor and Pollux, worshipped those me- 
teorous exhalations, which, during" a storm, appear on 
the masts of ships, and are supposed to denote an ap- 
proaching* calm. A kind of religious vei»era ion is still 
paid tp this phaenomenon by the Roman Catholics, under 
iihe appellation of the j2r€ of St» Elmo. The Naharvali 

h 



110 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 

or vestiges of foreign superstition appear 
in their worship; but they are revered 
under the character of young men and 
brothers. The Arii, fierce beyond the su« 
periority of strength they posj^ess above the 
other just enumerated people, improve 
their native ferocity of aspect by artificial 
helps. Their shields are black ; their 
bodies painted ^ : they choose the darkest 
nights for engaging ; and strike terror by 
the dismal gloom of their funereal army — 
no enemy being able to sustain their sin- 
gular, and, as it v^^ere, infernal appearance ; 
since in every combat, the eyes are the first 
part subdued. Beyond the Lygii are the 
Golhones % who are under a regal govern- 

seem to have affixed the same character of divinity oil 
the ignis JutuUs ; and the name Alcis is probably the 
same with that of Alffov Alfy which the northern nations 
still apply to the fancied Genii of the mountains. The 
Sarmatian deities Lebus and Polebus^ the memory of 
whom still subsists in the Polish festivals, had, perhaps, 
the same origin. 

^ No custom has been more universal among uncivi- 
lized people than painting the body, either for the 
purpose of ornament, or that of inspiring terror. 

^ Inhabitants of what is now Fa? t her Pomeranian 
the New Marche, and the Western part 6f Poland^ 
between the Oder and Vistula^ They were a xlifferent 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. Ill 



ment, somewhat more strict than that of 
the other German nations, yet not to a de- 
gree incompatible with liberty. Adjoining 
to these, are the Rugii * and Lemovii ^, 
situated on the sea-coast :^ — all these tribes 
are distinguished by round shields, short 
swords, and submission to regal authority. 
Next occur thecommuniliesoftheSuiones% 

people from the Golhs, though, perhaps, in alliance 
with them. 

^ These people were settled on the shore of the Baltic, 
where now are Colberg^ Cassuhia, and Farther Pome- 
rania. Their name is still preserved in the towR of 
Rugenwaldy 2iT\d isle of Rugen. 

^ These were also settlers on the BaUi<:, about the 
modern Stolpe, Dantzig, and Lavenburg. The Heruli 
appear afterwards to have occupied the settlements of 
the Lemovii. Of these last no farther mention occurs ; 
but the Heruli made themselves famous throughout Eu- 
rope and Asia, and were the first of the Germans who 
founded a kingdom in Italy under Odoacer. 

^ The SuJones inhabited Sweden^ and the Danish 
isles of Funen, Langland, Zeeland, Laland, kc. From 
them and the Cimbri were derived the Normans, who, 
after spreading terror through various parts of the empire, 
at last seized upon the fertile province of Normandy in 
France. The names of Goths, Visigoths, and Ostrogotbo, 
became still more famous, being the nations who acconir 
plished the ruin of the Roman empire. The laws of the 
Visigoths are still extant ; but they depart much from 
the ii^iU'il simplicity of the German laws. 

L 2 



112 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS 



seated in the very Ocean ^\ who, besides 
their strength in men and arms, are also 
powerful by sea ^ The form of their 
vessels differs from our's in having prows 
at each end \ so that Ihey are always ready 
to advance. They make no use of sails, 
Bor have regular benches of oars at the 
sides: they row, -as is practised in some 
rivers, without order, sometimes on one 
side, sometimes on the other, as occasion 
requires. These people pay respect to 

* The Romans, who had but imperfect knowledge 
©f this part of the world, imagined here those vast 
*^ insular tracts" mentioned in the beginning of this 
treatise. Hence Pliny, also, says of the Baltic sea, 
fCodanm sinus/ that " it is filled with islands, the 
*' most famous of which, Scandinavia, now Sweden and 
«^ l^orv^ayj is of an undiscovered magnitude; that part 

of it only being known which is occupied by the 
Hilleviones, a nation inhabiting five hundred cantons ; 

" who call this country another globe." Lib. iv. 13. 

The memory of the Hilleviones is still preserved in the 

part of Sweden named Halland. 

^ Their naval power continued so great, that they 

had the glory of framing the nautical code, the laws of 

which were first written at Wisby^ the capital of the isle 

of Gothland^ in the 11th century. 

* This is exactly the form of the Indian canoes, 
which, however, are generally worked with saik as 
well as oars* 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS, 113 



wealth ' ; for A^hich reason they are subject 
to monarchical government, without any 
limitations % or precarious conditions ot 
allegiance. Nor are arms allowed to be 
kept promiscuously, as among the other 
German nations ; but are committed to the 
charge of a keeper, and he, too, a slave. 
The pretext is, that the Ocean defends 
them from any sudden incursions ; and men 
unemployed, with arms in their hands, 
readily become licentious. In fact, it is a 
part of regal policy not to entrust a noble, 
a freeman, or even an emancipated slave, 
with the military power. 

• The great opulence of a temple of the Suiones, as 
described by Adam of Bremen f EccL Hist, ch. 233.) is 
a proof of the wealth that at all times has attended 
liayal dominion. This nation/' says he, possesses a 
•* temple of great renown, called Ubsola, (novf Up sal J 
not far from the cities Sictona and Birca (now Sigtuna 
and BioerkoeJ, In this temple, which is entirely 
*^ ornamented with gold, the people worship the statues 
** of three gods ; the most powerful of whom, Thor, is 
** seated on a couch in the middle ; with Woden on one 
** side, and Fricca on the other." From the ruins of 
the towns Sictona and Birca arose the present capital of 
Sweden, Stockholm. 

^ Hence Spener fNotit. Gtmian, antiq.J rightly 
concludes that the crown was hereditary and not elective, 
among the Suiones. 

l3 



114 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



Beyond the Suiones is another sea, shigf- 
gish and almost void of agitation % by 
which the whole globe is imagined to be 
g^irt and enclosed, from this circumstance, 
lhat the last light of the setting sun con- 
tinues so vivid till its rising, as to obscure 
the stars \ Popular belief adds, that the 
sound of his emerging ^ from the ocean is 
also heard ; and the forms of deities ^ with 

* It is uneeytain whether what is now called the 
■ Frozen Ocean is here meant, or the northern extre- 
Hiities of the Baltic Sea, the Gulfs of Bothnia and 
Finland, which are so frozen every winter as to be 
•innavigable. 

* The true principles of astronomy have now taught 
m the reason why, at a certain latitude, the sun, at 
the summer solstice, appears never to set; and at a 
lower latitude, the evening twilight continues till 
morning. 

^ The true reading here is, probably, immerging ; 
since it was a common notion at that period that the 
descent of the sun into the ocean was attended with a 
kind of hissing noise, like red hot iron dipped inta 
water. Thus Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 280. 

Audiet Herculeo stridentem gurgite sokm. 

^* Hear the sun hiss in the Hercukan gulf." 

^ Instead of formas deorum, " forms of deities," 
some, with more probability, read equorum, ^* of the 
horses'** which are feigned to draw the chariot of 

the siin^ 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 115 



the rays beaming from his head, are beheld. 
Only thus far, if fame say true, nature ex- 
tends \ On the right shore of the Suevic 
sea ° the tribes of the iEstii ' inhabit, whose 
habit and customs are the same with those 
of the Snevi, but their language more 
resembling the British \ They worship 
the mother of the gods ' ; and as the badge 
of their superstition, they carry about them 
the figures of wild boars*. This serves 
them in place of armour and every other 
defence : it renders the votary of the god- 

« Thus Quinlus Curlius, speaking of the Indian 
Ocean, says, Nature itself can proceed no farther." 
5 The Baltic sea. 

^ Now, the Kingdom of Prussia, the Dutckies of 
Samogitia and Courland, the Palatinates of Livonioj 
and Esthonia, in the name of which last the ancient 
appellation of these people is preserved. 

* Because the inhabitants of this extreme part of 
Germany retained the Scythico-Celtic language, which 
kng prevailed in Britain. 

^ A deity of Scythian origin, called Frea, or FriccOo 
See Mallet's Introduct, to Hist, of Denmark, 

* Many vestiges of this superstition remain to this 
day in Sweden, The peasants, in the month of February, 
the season formerly sacred to Frea^ make little iniages^ 
cf boars in paste, which they apply to various super- 
stitious uses* See Eccard. 



116 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS^ 



dess safe even in the midst of foes. Their 
weapons are chiefly clubs, iron being little 
used among them. They cultivate corn 
and other vegetables with more industry 
than German indolence generally exerts \ 
They even explore the sea ; and are the 
only people who gather amber, which by 
them is called Glese and is collected 
among the shallows and upon the shore. 
With the usual indifference of savages, 
tbey have neglected to inquire into the 
nature of this substance, and the manner 
of its production. It long lay disregarded ^ 

^ The cause of this was, probably, their confined 
situation, which did not permit them to wander in 
hunting and plundering parties, like the rest of the 
Germans. 

^ From its transparency. Glas in Germany has the 
.same import as Glass with us. Pliny speaks of the 
production of amber in this country as follows. " It 

is certain that amber is produced in the islands of the 
" Northern Ocean, and is called by the Germans gles^. 

One of these islands, by the natives named Austravia, 

was on this account called Glessaria by our sailors in 
" the fleet of Germanicus." Lib, xxxvii. 3» 

7 Insomuch that the Guttones, who formerly inha- 
bited this coast, made use of amber as fuel, and sold 
it for that purpose to the neighbouring Teutones. 
PUn^ xxxvii. 2. 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 117 



amiilst other things thrown up by the sea^ 
our luxury ^ gave it a name. Useless^ 
10 them, they gather it in the rough ; bring 
it unwroiight ; and wonder at the price 
they receive. It would appear, however^ 
to be a juice flowing from trees; since 
terrestrial, and even winged animals are 
usually seen shining through it, which^ 
entangled in it while in a liquid state, 
became enclosed as it hardened ^ I should 
therefore imagine that, as the fertile woods 
and groves in the secret recesses of the 
East exude frankincense and balsam, sa 
there are the same in the islands and con- 
tinents of the West; which, acted upon by 
the near rays of the sun, drop their liquid 
juices into the subjacent sea, whence, by 

» Various toys and utensils of amber, such as brace- 
lets, necklaces, rings, cups, and even pillars, were to 
be met with among the luxurious Romans. 

3 Amber is now in general looked upon as a fossil 
bitumen, since mines of it have been found in Prussia, 
where it is dug in considerable quantity. It is difficult, 
however, to conceive how the insects which are almost 
universally found in it should get there, if it had always 
been a subterraneous substance. For a particular ac- 
count of its nature and the methods of procuring it^ ste 
JS'cumanris Chemisiru, J. A. 



118 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



the force of tempests, they are thrown out 
upon the opposite coasts. If the nature of 
amber be examined by the application of 
fire^ it kindles like a torch, with a thick 
and odorous flame ; and presently resolves 
into a glutinous matter resembling pitch or 
resin. The several communities of the 
Sitones ' succeed those of the Suiones ; to 
whom they are similar in other respects, 
but differ in bei ng under a female sovereign : 
so far have they degenerated, not only from 
liberty, but even from slavery. Here Suevia 
terminates. 

I am in doubt whether to reckon the 
Peucini, Venedi, and Fenni among the 
Germans or Sarmatians ' ; although tjhe 
Peucini % who are by some called Bastarna?, 

' Norwegians, 

^ AH beyond the Vistula was reckoned Sarmatia. 
These people, therefore, were properly inhabitants of 
Sarmatia, though from their manners they appeared of 
German origin. 

^ Pliny also reckons the Peucini among the German 
nations. The fifth part of Germany is possessed by 

the Peucini and Bastarnse, who border on the Dacians." 
iv, 14. From Strabo it appears that the Peucini, part 
of the Bastarnse, inhabited the country about the mouths 
of the Danube, and particularly the island Peuce, now 
Piczinay formed by the river. 



MANNERS OF THE GERxMANS. 119 



^igree with the Germans in language, ap- 
parel, and habitations \ All of them live 
in filth and laziness. The intermarriasres 
of their chiefs with the Sarmatians have 
debased them by a mixture of the manners 
of that people. The Venedi ^ have drawn 
much from this source ; for they over-run 
in their prsedatory excursions all the woody 
and mountainous tracts between the Peu- 
cini and Fenni. Yet even these are rather 
to be referred to the Germans, since they 
build houses, carry shields, travel on foot, 
and excel in swiftness ; in all which par- 

* The liabitations of the Peucini were fixed, whereas 
the Sarmatians wandered about in their vvag-g-ons. 

* The Venedi extended beyond the Peucini and 
Bastarnae as far as the Baltic sea; where is the Sinus 
Venedicus, now the Gulf of Dantzig, Their name is 
also preserved in Wenden, a part of Livonia, When 
the German nations made their irruption into Italy, 
France, and Spain, the Venedi, also called Winedi, 
occupied their vacant settlements between the Vistula 
and Elbe. Afterwards they crossed the Danube, and 
seized Dalmatia, lllyricum, Istria, Carniola, and the 
Noric Al^ps. A part of Carniola still retains the name 
of Windismarck derived from them. This people, on 
account of their nobility and renown, were called Slavi ; 
a^:^d their language, ihe Sdav (nil an ^ still prevails through 
^ vast tract of country. 



120 MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



ticulars fbey totally differ from the Sarma» 
tiaiis, who pass their time in waggons and 
on horseback ^ The Fenni ^ Jive in a state 
of amazing savageness and squalid poverty. 
They are destitute of arms, horses, and 
settled abodes : their food is herbs ^ ; their 
cloathing, .skins ; their bed, the ground. 
Their only dependence is on their arrows, 

^ This is still the manner of living of the successors 
of the Sarmatians, the Nogai Tartar s» 

7 Their country is called by Pliny Eningia; now 
Finland, Warnefrid fDe GesL Langobard. i. 5.) 
ttius describes their savage and wretched state. The 

Scritobini, or Scritofinni, are not without snow in the 
<^ midst of summer ; and, being little superior in saga- 

city to the brutes, live upon no other food than the 
<^ raw flesh of wild animals, the hairy skins of which 

they use for cloathing. They derive their name> 
«* according to the barbarian tongue, from leaping; 
'* because they hunt wild beasts by a certain method of 

leaping or springing with pieces of wood bent in the 

shape of a bow/' Here is an evident description of 
the snow-shoes or raquets in common use aniong the 
North American savages, as well as the inhabitants of 
the most northern parts of Europe. 

s As it is just after mentioned that their chief de- 
pendence is on the game procured in hunting, this can 
Dnly mean that the vegetable food they use consists of 
wild herbs, in opposition to the vullivated products of 
the earth, Je Ao 



MANNERS OF THE GERMANS. 



121 



which, for want of iron, are headed with 
bone; and the chase is the support of the 
women as well as the men, who wander 
with them in the pursuitj and demand a 
share of the prey. Nor do they provide 
any other shelter for their infants from wild 
beasts and storms, than a covering of 
•branches twisted together. This is the 
resort of youth ; this is the receptacle of 
old age. Yet even this way of life is ia 
their estimation happier than groaning over 
cultivated lands; toiling in the erection of 
houses ; subjecting their own fortunes and 
those of others to the agitations of alternate 
hope and fear. Secure against men, secure 
against the gods % they have attained that 
most difficult point, not to need even a wish. 

All our further accounts are intermixed 
with fable ; as, that the Hellusii and Oxioni ' 
have the countenances of men, with the 

5 Thus Seneca, Epist, xvii. commends poverty, 

because it promises perpetual liberty, without any 

apprehensions froui man or God.'* 

* People of Lapland, The origin of this fable was 
probably the manner of cloathing in these cold regions, 
where the inhabitants bury themselves in the thickest 
furs, scarcely leaving any thing in the form of a human 
creature. 

M 



122 iMAiNNERS OF THE GERMANS, 



bodies and limbs of wild beasts. This, as 
a matter concerning which nothing au- 
thentic has reached us, I shall leave without 
discussion ^. 

* It i« with true judgment that this excellent Historian 
forbears to intermix fabulous narrations with the very 
interesting and instructive matter of this Treatise, 
Such a mixture might have brought an impeachment on 
the fidelity of the account in general ; which, notwith- 
standing the suspicions professed by some critics, con- 
tains nothing but what is entirely consonant to truth and 
nature. Had Tacitus indulged his invention in the 
description of German manners, is it probable that he 
could have given so just a picture of the state of a people 
under similar circumstances, the savage tribes of North 
America, as we have seen them within the present 
century ? Is it likely that his relations would have 
been so admirably confirmed by the codes of law still 
extant of the several German nations ; such as the Salic, 
Kipuary, Burgundian, English, and Lombard ? or that 
after the course of so many centuries, and the numerous 
changes of empire, the customs, laws, and manners he 
describes should still be traced in all the various people 
of German derivation ? As long as the original consti, 
tution and jurisprudence of our own and other European 
countries are studied, this Treatise will be regarded as 
one of the most precious and authentic monuments af 
historical antiquity. 



THT2 

LIFE 



or 



lGRICOL. 



LIFE 

OF 

AGRICOL A , 



The ancient custom of transmitting- to 
posterity the actions and manners of famous 
men, has not been neglected by the present 
age, though incurious of its own affairs, 
whenever any exalted and noble degree of 
virtue has triumphed over that false esti- 
mation of merit, and envy, by which great 
and small states are equally infested. In 
former times, however, as there was a 
greater propensity, and freer scope, for the 
performance of actions worthy of remem- 
brance ; so every person of distinguished 
abilities was induced through conscientious 

* This work was composed in the year of Rome S50, 
and in that from the birth of Christ 97 ; during the 
third consulate of the emperor Nerva, and the third of 
Verginius Rufus. 

M 3 



326 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



motives alone, without regard to private 
favour or interest, fo record examples of 
virtue. And many consiHered it rather as 
the honest confidence of integTity, than a 
culpable arrogance, to become their own 
historians. Of this Rutilius ' and Scaurus^ 

* Publius Rutilias Rufus, consul in the year ©f Rome 
649, is called by Velleius Paterculus ''the best maa 
" not only of his own, but of every preceding age.'* 
ii. 13. He acted with vigour against the friends of 
Tiberius Gracchus ; but afterwards, he was opposed 

by the senate in those very things which he was at- 
" tempting in their favour; and being prosecuted for 

illegal exactions, was condemned, to the great grief 

ofthe city." Ibid. c. 7. 

3 Marcus iEmilius Scaurus was consul in the year of 
Rome 639. Cicero, in his book De Claris Oratorihus, 
c. 29. mentions him in the following honourable terms^ 
He was a person of wisdom and integrity, accompa- 
nied with great gravity, and a kind of native authority. 
There are extant of his, orations, and memoirs of his 
own life, in three books, inscribed to Fufidius ; a work 
of great utility, which, however, nobody reads. Yet 
" the life and institutions of Cyrus are universally read 
•* an excellent performance, indeed, but neither so 
applicabFe to the affairs of our country, nor superior 
*• in merit to that of Scaurus.'* After his consulate 
be was prince of the senate. This great and worthy 
person had a son infamous for his debauchery and 
luxury ; whose aedileship is said by Pliny (xxxiii. 15^ 
7.) to have exceedingly corrupted the public morals ; 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 127 



were instances ; who were yet never cen- 
sured on this arcount, nor was the fidelity 
of their narration called in question : so 
much more candidly are virtues always 
estimated, in those periods which are the 
most favourable to their production. For 
myself, however, who have undertaken to 
be the historian of a person deceased, an 
apology seemed necessary ; which I should 
not have made, had my course lain through 
times less savage and hostile to virtue \ 

We read that when Arulenus Rusticus 
published the praises of Paetus Thrasea, 
and Herennius Senecio those of Priscus 
Helvidius, it was construed into a capital 
crime ' ; and the rage of tyranny was let 

and he therefore calls it a greater evil than the cruel 
proscriptions of his father-in-law Sylla. 
♦ Those of Domitian. 

^ A passage in Dio excellently illustrates the fact 
here referred to. He (Domitian) put to death Rus- 

ticus Arulenus because he studied philosophy, and 
" had given Thrasea the appellation of holy ; and 

Herennius Senecio, because, although he lived many 
" years after serving the offic e of quaestor, he solicited 
" no other post, and because he had written the life of 

Helvidius Priscus." Ixvii. p. 765. With less accu- 
racy, Suetonius, in his life ot Domitian, {Sect, x.) says, 
•* He put to death Junius Rusticus, because he had 



128 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



loose not only against the authors, but 
against their writings ; so that those monu- 
ments of exalterl genius were burnt at the 
place of election in the forum by triumvirs 
appointed for the purpose. In that fire 
they thought to consume the voice of the 
Roman people, the freedom of the senate, 
and the conscious emotions of all mankind ; 
crowning the deed by the expulsion of the 
professors of wisdom ^, and the banishment 
of every liheral art, that nothing generous 
or honourable might remain. We gave, 
indeed, a consummate proof of our pa- 
tience; and as remote ages saw the very 
utmost degree of liberty, so we, deprived 
by inquisitions of all the intercourse of 
conversation, experienced the utmost of 

published the panegyrics of Paetus Thtasea and Hel- 
" vidius Priscus, and had styled them most holy persons 

and on this occasion he expelled all the philosophers 
" from the city, and from Italy." Aruleniis Rusticiis 
was a Stoic ; on which account he was contumeiiously 
called by M. Re^uius " the ape of the Stoics, marked 

with the V\tf llian scar." Plin. Epist. \, 5. Thrasea, 
who killed Nero, is particularly recorded in Tacitus's 
AnnalSy Book xvi. 

^ The expulsion of the philosophers, mentioned m 
the passage above quoted from Suetonius. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



129 



slavery. With language we should have 
lost memory itself, had it been as much in 
our power to forget, as to be silent. 

Now our spirits begin to revive. But 
although at the first dawning of this happy 
period % the emperor Nerva united two 
things before incompatible, monarchy and 
liberty ; and Trajan is now daily aug- 
menting the felicity of the empire ; and the 
public security ® has not only assumed 
hopes and wishes, but has seen those 
wishes arise to confidence and stability ; 
yet, from the nature of human infirmity, 
remedies are more tardy in their operation 
than diseases: and, as bodies slowly in- 
crease, but quickly perish, so it is more 
easy to suppress industry and genius, than 
to recal them. For indolence itself acquires 
a sweetness; and sloth, however odious at 
first, becomes at length engaging. During 

This truly happy period began when, after the 
death of Domitian, and the recision of his acts, the 
imperial authority devolved on Nerva, whose virtuer, 
were emulated by the successive emperors, Trajan, 
Hadrian, and both the Antoniues. 

^ Securitas publica the public security'' was a 
current expression and wish, and was frequently in- 
scribed on medals. 



130 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



the space of fifteen years % a large portion^ 
of mortality^ how great a number have 
fallen by casual events, and, as was the 
fate of all the most distinguished, by the 
cruelty of the prince ; while we, the few 
survivors, not of others alone, but, if I 
may be allowed the expression, of ourselves, 
find a void of so many years in our lives, 
which has silently brought us from youth 
to maturity, from mature age to the very 
verge of life ! Still, however, I shall not 
regret having composed, though in rude 
and artless language, a memorial of pa&t 
servitude, and a testimony of present 
blessings \ 

The present work> in the mean-time, 
which is dedicated to the honour of my 
father-in-law, may be thought to merit 
praise, or at least excuse, from the piety 
of the intention. 

CnjEUs Julius Agricola was born at 
the ancient and illustrious colonv of Fo- 

^ The term of I>omitian's reign. 

* It appears that at this time Tacitus proposed to 
write not only the books of his History and Annals^ 
which contain the " memorial of past servitude," but 
an account of the " present blessings" exemplified iz 
the occurrences under Nerva and TrajaUo 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 131 



rurijjulii'. Both his grandfathers were 
imperial procurators % ari office which 
confers the rank of eques^trian nobility. 
His father, Julius (iraecinus \ of the sena- 
torian order, was famous for the study of 
eloquence and philosophy ; and by these 
accomplishments he drew on himself the 

* There were two Roman colonies of this name ; one 
iuUmbria, supposed to be the place now called Friuli ; 
the other in Narbonnensian Gaul, the modern name of 
which is Frejus, This last was probably the birth- 
place of Agricola. 

^ Of the procurators who were sent to the provinces, 
some had the charge of the public revenue, others, not 
only of that, but of the private revenue of the emperor. 
These were the imperial procurators. All the offices 
relative to the finances were in the possession of the 
Roman knights ; of whom the imperial procurators were 
accounted noble. Hence the equestrian nobility of 
which Tacitus speaks. In some of the lesser provinces, 
the procurators had the civil jurisdiction, as well as 
the administration cf the revenue. This was the case in 
Judaea. 

* Seneca bears a very honuumble testimony to this 
person. " If,*' says he, " we have occasion for an ex- 

ample of a great mind, let us use that of Julius 
Graecinus, an excellent person, v/hom Caius Caesar 
put to death on this account alone, that he was a 
better man than could be suffered under a tyrant." 

Dc Benef. ii. 21. His books concerrdng Vineyards 

are commended by Columella and Pliny. 



132 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



displeasure of Caius Csesar * ; for, being 
commanrled to undertake the accusation 
of Marcus Silanus, on his refusal, he was 
put to death. His mother was Julia Pro- 
tilla, a lady of exemplary chastity. Edu- 
cated with tenderness in her bos^om he 

* Caligula. 

^ Of th€ part ihe Roman matroas took in the edu-' 
cation of youth, we have the following^ elegant and 
interesting account, in the Dialogue concerning Ora* 
tOTSy usually attributed to Tacitus. The speaker is 
comparing the method of education formerly pursued, 
with that in his time .practised, among the great families 
in Rome, And first,'* says he, " every child, the 
offspring of a chaste parent, was brought up, not in 
the cottage of a hired nurse, but in the bosom of his 
mother, whose chief praise it was, to manage her 
domestic affairs, and devote herself to her children. 
An elderly female relation was then fixed upon, whose 
known and approved virtues rendered her fit to be 
entrusted with the charge of all the children of the 
family ; before whom they should neither dare to 
speak what was improper to be spoken, nor do what 
was unbecoming to be done ; and who should not only 
" superintend their studies and serious occupations, but 
should temper even their sports and relaxations with 
a certain purity and decorum. Thus Cornelia pre- 
*' sided over the education of the Gracchi, Aurelia 
*^ over that of Caesar, and Atia over that of Augustus — 
thus they brought up their children to the rank of 
princes. It was the whole scope of this strictness of 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA, 



133 



passed his childhood and youth in the 
attainment of every liberal an. He was 
preserved from the allurements of vice, 
not only by a naturally g'ood I i -^position, 
but by being sent very early to pursue his 
studies at Massilia ^ ; a place where the 
Grecian politeness and the provincial fru- 
gality are happily united. I remember he 
was used to relate, that in his early youth 
he should have engaged more deeply in 
the studies of philosophy and law than was 
suitable to a Roman and a senator, had 
not the discretion of his mother restrained 
the warmth and vehemence of his dispo- 
sition : for his high spirit^ inflamed by the 
charms of glory and exalted reputation, 
led him to the pursuit with more eagerness 
than judgement Reason and riper years 
mitigated his ardour ; and, what is a most 

<^ discipline, tliat the mind, in its native simplicity and 
purity, warped by no vicious habits, should imbibe 
with the utmost avidity every worthy object of 
^Vpursuit; and that whether the youth inclined to a 
" military life, the study of the laws, or the practice of 
** eloquence, he should attend to thai alone, and take 
it in in its full extent." Sect, xxviii. 
7 Now Marseilles. This was a colony of the Pho- 
caeans, whence it derived that Grecian politeness for 
which it was long famous. 

N 



134 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



difficult task, he preserved a medium in 
wisdom itself. 

He learned the rudiments of war in 
Britain, under Suetonius PauUinus, an 
active and prudent commander, who mani- 
fested his approbation by choosing him for 
a companion in his own tent \ In this 
situation, he did not, like most young men^ 
convert the service into a scene of licen- 
tiousness; nor, after spending his time in 
pleasures and absence from duty, content 
himself with bringing back a tribunitial 
rank ^ with ignorance : but he employed 
himself in gaining a knowledge of the 
country, cultivating an acquaintance with 
the army, learning from the experienced, 
and imitating the best i neither pressing to 
be employed through yain g'lory, nor de- 

« It was usual for generals to admit young men of 
promising characters to this lionourable companionship ; 
which resembled the office of an aid de camp in the 
modern service. Thus Seutonius informs us that 
Caesar made his first campaign in Asia as tent-companion 
to Marcus Thermus the praetor. 

^ The military tribuneship, which, on account of the 
number who solicited it, was sometimes continued only 
for six months* Tbus Pliny, in an ep!stl6 to Sossius 
(B. iv. Ep, 4,) begs iiim to confer on Calvisius the 
tionour of ^ six-month's tribuneship. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



135 



cliuing it through timidity ; and conducting 
himself with equal solicitude and spirit. 
That province, indeed, had never been in 
a state of greater alarm and danger. Our 
veterans slaughtered, our settlements 
burnt \ our armies hemmed in — we were 
then contending for safety, afterwards for 
victory. During this period, although 
every thing was transacted under the con- 
duct and direction of another, and the 
chief command, as well as the glory of 
recovering the province, fell to the general's 
share, yet the young Agricola was im- 
proved and animated ; and the passion for 
military glory entered his mind ; a passion 
ungrateful to the times % in which eminence 
was unfavourably construed, and a great 
reputation was no less dangerous than 
bad one. 

Departing from hence to undertake the 
offices of magistracy in the city, he married 
Domitia Decidiana, a lady of splendid 
descent, from which connection he derived 

» This was the fate of the colony of veterans at Cbi- 
oulodunum, now Colchester, A particular account ot 
this revolt is given in the 14th book of Tacitub'it 
Arma/s. 

* Those of Nero. 



136 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



credit and support in his pursuit of greater 
things. They lived together in admirable 
harmony and mutual affection ; each con- 
sulting the other*s happiness more than 
their own ; a conduct equally meritorious 
in both, except that a greater degree of 
praise is due to a good wife, in proportion 
as a bad one deserves the greater censure. 
By the lot of qusestorship ^ he obtained 
Asia for his province, under the proconsul 
Salvius Titianus * : and although the pro- 
vince was wealthy and open to plunder, 
and the proconsul, from his rapacious dis- 
position, would readily have agreed to a 
mutual concealment of crimes, yet he re- 
mained untainted by both. His family was 
there increased by the birth of a daughter, 
who was both the support of his house, and 
his consolation ; for he lost an elder born 
son at a very early age. The interval be- 
tween his serving the oflSce of quaestor and 

^ The office of quaestor was the entrance to all public 
employments. The quaestors and their secretaries were 
distributed by lot to the several provinces, that there 
might be no previous connexions between them and the 
governors, but they might serve as checks upon eacfe 
other. 

^ Brother of the emperor Otho. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA; 137 



tribune of the people, and even the year of 
the latter magistracy, he passed in repose 
and inactivity; well knowing the temper 
of the times under ^ ero, in which indolence 
was wisdom. He maintained the same 
tenor of conduct when praetor; for the 
judiciary part of the office did not fall to 
his share". In the exhibition of public 
shows, and the idle trappings of dignity, 
he consulted propriety, and the measures^ 
of his fortune ; by no means approaching 
to extravagance, yet not inattentive to his 
honour. When he was afterwards ap- 
pointed by Galba to manage an inquest 
concerning the offerings which had been 
presented to the temples, by his strict 

^ At the head of the praetors, the number of whom 
was different at different periods of the empire, were 
the PrcBtor Urbaiius, and Prcetor Peregrimis. The 
first administered justice among the citizens, the second 
among strangers. The rest presided at public debates, 
and had the charge of exhibiting the public games, 
which were celebrated with great solemnity for seven 
successive days, and at a vast expence. This, indeed, 
in the times of the emperors, was almost the sole busi- 
ness of the prsetors, whose dignity, as Tacitus expresses 
it, consisted in the idle trappings of state ; whence 
Boethius justly terms the prwtorship " an empty name;> 
and a grievous burthen on the senatorian rank.'' 
N 3 



138 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



attention and diligence he preserved the 
state from any further sacrilege than what 
it had suffered from Nero \ 

The following: year^ inflicted a sevefe 
wound on the peace of his mind, and his 
domestic concerns. The fleet of Otho, 
roving in a disorderly manner on the coast % 
made a hostile descent on Intemelii ^5 a part 
of Liguria, in which the mother of Agricola 
was murdered at her own estate, her lands 
were ravaged, and a great part of her effects , 
which had invited the assassins, was carried 
off. As Agricola upon this event was 
hastening to perform the duties of filial 
piety, he was overtaken by the news of 
Vespasian*s declaring for the empire \ and 

^ Nero had plundered the temples for the supply of 
his extravagance and debauchery. See Tacitus's Annals^ 
XV. 45, 

7 This was the year of Rome 822 ; from the birth of 
Chrijyt, 69. 

® The cruelties and depredations committed on the 
coast of Italy by this fieet are described in lively colours 
by Tacitus, Hist. ii. 12 and 13. 

9 Now the county of Vintimiglia. The attack upon 
the municipal town of thi^ place, called Albium Inte- 
melium, is particularly mentioned in the passage above 
referred to* 

^ In the month of July, of this year. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 130 



immediately went over to hh party. The 
first acts of power, and the government of 
the city, were entrusted to Mucianus ; 
Domitian being at that time very young, 
and making use of his father's advancement 
only as an instrument of licentiousness. 
Mucianus, having approved the vigour 
and fidelity of Agricola in the service of 
raising levies, gave him the command of 
the twentieth legion % which had appeared 
backward in taking the oalhs, as soon as 
be had heard of the seditious practices of 
its commander". This legion had been 
unmanageabk and formidable even to the 
consular lieutenants ' ; and its late com- 
mander of praetorian rank had not sufficient 
authority to keep it in obedience ; though 
it was uncertain whether from his own dis- 
position, or that of his soldiers. Agricola 
was therefore appointed as his successor 

2 The twentieth legion, surnamed the victorious, was 
stationed in Britain, at Deva, the modern Chester, 
where many inscriptions and other monuments of 
Roman antiquities have been discovered. 

3 Roscius Caelius. 11 is disputes with the governor 
of Britain, TrebeUius Maximus, are related by Tacitus, 
Hist, i. 60. 

^ The governors of the province, and commanders in 
chief over all the legions stationed in it. 



140 THE LIFE OF AGRICOtA. 



and avenger ; but, with an uncommon 
degree of moderation, he chose rather to 
have it appear that he had fownd the legion 
obedient, than that he had made it so. 

Vettius Bolanus was at that time governor 
of Britain % and ruled with a more pacific 
sway than was suitable to so turbulent a 
province. Under his administration, Agri- 
cola, accustomed to obey, and taught to 
unite what was prudential with what was 
honourable, tempered his ardour, and re- 
strained his enterprising spirit. His virtues 
had soon a larger field for their exertioUy 
from the appointment of Petilius CereaHs^y 

^ The following lisi of the successive governors of 
Britain from the year of Rome 796, A.D. 4^, to the 
year of Rome 838, A. D. 85, is extracted from this 
work, and other parts of Tacitus. 

Aulus Plautius. 

Ostorius Scapula. 

Aulus Didius Gallus. 

Q. Yeranius. 

Suetonius Paullinus. 

Petronius TurpilianuSo 

Trebellius Maximus, 

Yettius Bolanus. 

Petilius Cerialis. 

Julius Frontinus. 

Cnaeus Julius Agricola. 

^ He had formerly been commander of the ninth legion. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 141 



a man of consular dignity, to the govern- 
ment. At first he only shared the fatigues 
and dangers of his general ; but was pre- 
sently allowed to partake of his glory. 
Cerealis frequently entrusted him with part 
of his army, as a trial of his abilities ; and 
from the event sometimes enlarged his 
command. On these occasions, Agricola 
was never ostentatious in assuming to him- 
self the merit of his exploits ; but always, 
as a subordinate officer, gave the honour 
of his good fortune to his superior. Thus 
by his spirit in executing orders, and his 
modesty in recountinghissuccess,heavoided 
envy, yet did not fail of acquiring glory. 

On his return from commanding the 
legion, he was called by Vespasian to the 
patrician order, and then invested with the 
government of Aquitania % a distinguished 
promotion, both in respect to the office 
itself, and the hopes of the consulate to 
which it destined him. It is a common 
supposition that military men, habituated 
to the direct and informal processes of 
camps, where things are chiefly effected by 

7 The province of Aquitania extended from the 
Pyrencan mountains to the rirer Liger ( Loire J ^ 



142 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



force, are deficient in that address and 
subtility of genius requisite in civil pro- 
ceedings. Agricola^ however, by his natural 
prudence was enabled to act with facility 
and precision even among men of the robe. 
He distinguished the hours of business 
from those of relaxation. When the court 
or tribunal demanded his presence, he was 
grave, intent, awful, yet generally inclined 
to lenity. When the duties of his office 
were over, the man of power was instantly 
laid aside. Nothing of sternness, arrogance 
or rapaciousness appeared ; and, what was 
a singular felicity, his affability did not 
impair his authority, nor his severity render 
him less beloved. To mention integrity 
and freedom from corruption in such a man 
would be an affront to his virtues. He did 
not even court reputation, an object to 
which men of worth frequently sacrifice, 
by ostentation or artifice : equally avoiding 
competition with his colleagues % and con- 
tention with the procurators. To overcome 
in such a contest he thought inglorious; 
and to be trampled on, a disgrace. Some- 
what less than three years were spent in this 

8 The ^vernors of the neighbouring provincesa. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



14.3 



t)ffice5 when he was recalled to the imme- 
diate prospect of the consulate; while at 
the same time a popular opinion prevailed 
that the government of Britain would be 
conferred upon him ; an opinion not founded 
upon any suggestions of his own, but upon 
his being thought equal to the station. 
Common fame does not always err, some- 
times it even directs a choice. V> ben 
consul % he contracted his daughter, a lady 
of the happiest expectations, to myself, 
then a very young man ; and after his office 
nvas expired I received her in marriage. 
He was immediately appointed governor of 
Britain, and the pontificate ' was added to 
his other dignities. 

The situation and inhabitants of Britain 
have been described by many writers^ ; and 
1 shall not add to the number with the view 
of vying with them in accuracy and inge- 

Agricola was consul in t]:e year of Rome 830, 
A. D. 77. along with Donfiitian. They succeeded, in 
the calends of July, the consuls Vespasian and Titus, 
who began the year. 

' He was admitted into the Pontifical College, at the 
head of which was the Pontifex Maxiraus. 

* Julius Caesar, Livy, IStrabo, Fabius Rusticos, 
Pomponius Mela, Pliny, &c. 



144 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



nuity, but because it was first thoroughly 
subdued in the period of the pressent history. 
The circumstances which, while yet unas- 
certained, they embellished with their elo- 
quence, I shall simply relate from the 
evidence of real discoveries. Britain, the 
largest of all the islands which have come 
within the knowledge of the Romans, is 
extended on the East towards i icrmanv, on 
the West towards Spain % and on the South 
towards Gaul. Its Northern extremity is 
not opposed to any land, but is washed by 
a vast and open sea. Livy, the most elo- 
quent of ancient, and Fabius Rusticus of 
modern writers, have resembled the figure 
of Britain to an oblong target, or a two- 
edged axe \ And this is in reality its apr* 
pearance, exclusive of Caledonia ; whence 
it; has been popularly attributed to the 
whole island. But that tract of country^ 
irregularly stretching out to an immense 
length towards the extremity of the land, 

^ Thus Csesar. " One side of Britain inclines towards 
Spain, and the setting sub ; on which part Ireland is 

" situated.'' BelL Gall. v. 13. 

* These, as well as other resemblances suggested by 

ancient geographers, have been mostly destroyed by the 

greater accuracy of modern maps. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



145 



is gradually contracted in form of a wedged 
The Roman fleet, at this period first sailing 
round this remotest coast, gave certain 
proof that Britain was an island ; and at 
the same time discovered and subdued 
the Orcades °, islands till then unknown. 
Thule^ was also descried, which winter 

^ This is so far true, that the northern extremity of 
Scotland is much narrower than the southern coast of 
England. 

^ The Orkney islands. These, although now first 
thoroughly known to the Romans, had before been 
beard of, and mentioned by authors. Thus Mela, iii. G. 
There are thirty of the Orcades, separated from each 
other by narrow straits.'' And Pliny, iv. 16. The 
Orcades are forty in number, at a small distance from 
each other.'' In the reign of Claudius the report 
concerning these islands was particularly current, and 
adulation converted it into the news of a victory. Hence 
Hieronymus in his Chronicon says, Claudius triumphed 
" over the Britons, and added the Orcades to the 
Roman empire." 

" Camden supposes the Shetland islands to be meant 
here by Thule ; others imagine it to have been one of 
the Hebrides, Pliny, iv. 16. mentions Thule as the 
most remoite of all known islands ; and by placing it but 
one day's sail from the Frozen Ocean, renders it pro- 
bable that Iceland was intended. Procopius fBclh 
Goth. ii. 15.) speaks of another Thule, which must 
have been Norway ^ which many of the ancients thought 
to b€ an island. 

O 



THE LIFE OF AGRICGLA. 



aod eternal snow had hitherto concealed. 
The sea is reported to be sluggish and 
difficult for oars ; and even to be scarcely 
agitated by winds. The cause of this stag^ 
nation I imagine to be the deficienc y of land 
and mountains where tempests are gene- 
rated- and the difficultv with which such a 
mighty mass of waters, in an uninterrupted 
maiij, is put in motion \ It is not the 
business of this work to investigate the 
nature of the ocean and the tides ; a subject 
which many writers have already under- 
taken. I shall only add one circumstance ; 
that the dominion of the sea is no where 
more extensive : for it forces up and carries 
back with it the waters of rivers ; and its 
ebbings and flowings are not confined to 
the shore, but it penetrates into the heart 

^ As far as the meaning of tliis passage can be eluci- 
dated, it would appear as if the first circumnavigators 
of Britain, to enhance the idea of their dangers and 
iiardships, had represented the Northern sea as in such 
a thickened half solid state, that the oars could scarcely 
be worked, or the water agitated by winds. Tacitus, 
however, rather chooses to explain its stagnant condition 
from the want of winds, and the difficulty of moving so 
great a body of waters. But the fact, taken either way, 
is ^rroneotiR ; as this sea is never observed frozen, and 
is reuiarkablj stormy and tempestuous, J, A. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 147 



of t!ie country, and works its way among 
hills and mountains, as in its native bed \ 

Who were the first inhabitants of Britain, 
whether indigenous ' or emigrants, is a 
question involved in the obscurity usual 
among barbarians. Their temperament of 
body is various, whence deductions are 
formed of their different origin. Thus, the 
ruddy hair and large limbs of the Caledo- 
nians % point out a German derivation. 
The swarthy complexion and curled hair 
of the Silures \ together with their situation 
opposite to Spain, render it probable that 
a colony of the ancient Iberi ' possessed 

^ The great number of firths and inlets of the sea 
which almost cut through the northern parts of the 
island, as well as the height of the tides on the coast^ 
render this observation peculiarly proper. 

' Caesar mentions that the interior inhabitants of 
Britain were supposed to have originated in the island 
itself. Bell. GalL v. V2. 

• Caledonia, now Scotland, was at that time over-- 
spread by vast forests. Thus Pliny, iv. 16. speaking, 
of Britain, says, that for thirty years past the Roman 
*' arms had not extended the knowledge of the island. 
*' beyond the Caledonian forest." 

^ Inhabitants of what are now the counties of ^Ji- 
mo rg an y Monmouth y Brecknock, Hertf or d,diX\d Radnor. 

' The Iberi were a people of Spain, c^o called froia 
their neighbourhood to the river Iberus, now Rbro* . 

o 2 



14S 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



themselves of that territory* They who 
are nearest Gaul ^ resemble the inhabitants 
of that country ; which may be imputed 
either to theduration of hereditary influence, 
or to that similarity of climate, proceeding 
from the mutual approach of the coasts % 
which occasions similarity of constitution. 
On a general survey^ however, it appears^ 
probable that the Gauls originally took 
possession of the neighbouring coast. The 
sacred rites and superstitions ^ of these 
people are discernible among the Britons. 
The languages of the two nations do not 
greatly differ \ The same audacity in 

^ Of these, the inhabitants of Kent are honourably 
mentioned by Caesar, *^ Of all these people, by far the 
" most civilized are those inhabiting the maritinie 
" country of Cantiujn, who differ little in their manners 

from the Gauls." Bell. Gall v. 14. 

^ From the obliquity of the opposite coasts of England 
and France, some part of the former runs further south 
than the northern extremity of the latter. 

^ Particularly the mysterious and bloody sokmnities. 
of the Druids. 

8 This similarity still subsists between the Welsh 
language and that of Bretagne ; a dialect of which is but 
just extinct in Cornwall. It was however chiefly from 
Belgium that the Gallic emigrations into Britain were 
made. See Cgssar, BelL Gall, v. 1.2. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 149 



provoking danger, and irresolution in facing 
it when present, is observable in both. 
The Britons, however, have more ferocity", 
not being yet softened by a long peace : for 
it appears from history that the Gauls 
were once renowned in war, ti]], losing 
their valour w'ith their liberty, languor and 
indolence entered auiongst them. The 
same change has also taken place among 
those of the Britons who have been long 
subdued ' ; but the rest continue such as 
the Gauls formerly were. 

Their military strength consists in foot : 
some nations also make use of chariots in 
w^ar ; in the management of which, the 
most honourable person guides the reins, 
w^hile his dependents fight from the chariot. 
The Britons were formerly governed by 
kings % but at present they are divided in 

5 The children were born and nursed in this ferocity. 
Thus Solinus, c. 22. speaking of ihe warlike nation of 
Britons, says, " When a woman is delivered of a male 
" child, she lays its first food upon the husband's sword, 
" and with the point gently puts it within the little one's 

mouth, praying to her country deities that his dtath 
" may in like manner be in the midst of arms," 

* In the reign of Claudius. 

' Thus the kings Cunobelinus, Caractacus, and Pra- 
o 3 



150 THE LIFE OF AGRICOL^. 



factions and parties amon^ their chiefs; 
and this want of tinion for concerting some 
general plan is the most favourable cir- 
cumstance to us, in our designs against so 
powerful a people. It is seldom that two 
or three communities concur in repelling 
the common danger ; and thus, while they 
engage singly, they are all subdued. The 
sky in this country is deformed by clouds^ 
and frequent rains ; but the cold is never 
extremely rigorous \ The length of the 
days greatly exceeds that in our part of the 
world \ The nights are bright, and, at 
the extremity of the island, so short, that 
the close and return of day is scarcely dis- 
tinguished by a perceptible interval. It is 
even asserted that, when clouds do not 
intervene, the splendour of the sun is visible 
during the whole night, and that it does 

sutagus?, and the queens Cartismandua and Boadkeay 
are mentioned in different parts of Tacitus. 

^ Caesar says of Britain, the climate is more tern- 
*^ perate than that of Gaul, the cold being less severe.'^ 
BelL Gall. v. 12. This certainly proceeds from its 
insular situation, and the moistness of its atmosphere. 

^ Thus Pliny, ii. 75. The longest day in Italy is 
" of fifteen hours : in Britain of seventeen, where in 
^* summer the nights are light," 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 151 



not appear to rise and set, but to move 
across. The cause of this is, that the ex- 
trerae and flat parts of the earth casting a 
low shadow do not elevate the darkness, 
and night falls beneath the sky and the 
stars'. The soil, though improper for 
the olive and vine, and other productions 
of warmer climates, is yet fertile, and 
suitable for corn. Growth is quick, but 
maturation slow ; both from the same cause, 
the great humidity of the ground and the 
atmosphere \ The earth yields gold and 

^ The words of the author are here rendered as 
exactly as possible ; but it is difficult to say upon what 
astronomical principles any sense can be made of the 
passage. The real cause of this phaenomenon is now 
well known to all astronomers. J, A. 

^ Mr. Pennant has a pleasing remark concerning the 
soil and climate of our island, well agreeing with that 
of Tacitus. " The climate of Great Britain is above 

all others productive of the greatest variety and abun- 
" dance of wholesome vegetables, which, to crown our 
" happiness, are almost equally diffused through all its 

parts : this general fertility is owing to those clouded 
" skies, which foreigners mistakenly urge as a reproach 

on our country : but let us cheerfully endure a tempo- 
*' rary gloom, which cloaths not only our meadows, but 
" our hills, with the richest verdure.'' Br, ZooL 4to» 
i. 15. 



152 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



^silver'^ and other metals, the rewards of 
victory. The ocean produces pearls % but 

7 Strabo, iv. 138, testifies the same. Cicero, on 
the other hand, asserts that not a single grain of silver 
is found in this island. Ep, ad Attic, iv, 16. If we 
have recourse to modern authorities, we find Camden 
mentioning gold and silver mines in Cumberland^ silver 
in F/inf.sAir^, and gold \n Scotland. Dr. Borlase (Ilist, 
ofCornwallyp. 214) relates that so late as the year 
1753 several pieces of gold were found in what the 
miners call stream tin ; and silver is now got in con- 
siderable quantity from several of our lead ores. See 
Preface to Br, ZooL A curious paper concerning the 
Gold Mines of Scotland, is given by Mr, Pennant in 
Append. No. x, to his second Part of A Tour in 
Scotland in 1772, 

8 Camden mentions pearls bein^^ found in the coun- 
ties of Caernarvon and Cumberland, and in the British 
sea, Mr. Pennant in his Tour in Scotland in 1769, 
takes notice of a considerable pearl fishery out of the 
fresh- water muscle, in the vicinity of Perth, from 
whence £10,000. worth of pearls were sent to London 
from 1761 to 1764. It was, however, almost exhausted 
when he visited the country. Origen, in his Comments 
on Matthew, p. 210, 211, gives a description of the 
British pearl, which, he says, was next in value to the 
Indian. Its surface is of a gold colour, but it is 
" cloudy, and less transparent than the Indian." Pliny 
speaks of the British unions as follows. It is certain 
*' that small and discoloured ones are produced m 

Britain ; since the deified Julius has given us to^ 
^* understand that the breastplate which he dedicated to 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



153 



of a cloudy and livid hue ; which some 
impute to unskilfulness in the gatherers ; 
for in the Red Sea the fish are plucked 
from the rocks alive and vigorous, but in 
Britain they are collected as the sea throws 
them up. For my own part, I can more 
readily conceive that the defect is in the 
nature of the pearls, than in our avarice. 

The Britons cheerfully submit to levies, 
tributes, and the other services of govern- 
ment, if they are not treated injuriously ; 
but such treatment they bear with impa- 
tience, their subjection only extending to 
obedience, not to servitude. For Julius 
Caesar % the first Roman who entered 
Britain with an army, although he terrified 
the inhabitants by a successful engagement, 
and became master of the shore, yet ap- 
pears rather to have transmitted the know- 
ledge than the possession of the country to 
posterity. The civil wars soon succeeded ; 
the arms of the great were turned against 

" Venus Genetrix and placed in her temple, was made 
" of British pearls.** ix. 35. 

^ Caesar's two expeditions into Britain were in tl:e. 
years of Rome 699 and 700. He himself gives an ao» 
count of them, and they are also mentioned by Straha 
and Dio. 



154 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



each other ; and a long neglect of Britain 
ensued, which continued even after the 
establishment of peace. This Augustus 
attributed to policy ; and Tiberius; to the 
injunctions of his predecessor ' . It is cer- 
tain that Caius Caesar ^ meditated an 
expedition into Britain ; but his temper, 
precipitate in forming schemes, and un- 
steady in pursuing them, together with the 
ill success of his mighty attempts against 
Germany^ rendered the design abortive. 
Claudius^ accomplished the undertaking, 
transporting his legions and auxiliaries^ 
and associating Vespasian in the direction 
of affairs, which laid the foundation of his 
future fortune. In this expedition, the 
several nations were subdued, their kings 
made captive, and Vespasian was held forth 
to the fates. 

* It WHS the wise policy of Augustus not to extend 
any farther the limits of the empire ; and with regard 
to Britain, in particular, he thought the conquest and 
preservation of it would be attended with more expence 
than it could, repay, Strabo, ii. 79. and iv. 138. 
Tiberius, who always professed an entire deference for 
the maxims and injunctions of Augustus, in this in- 
stance, probably, was convinced of their propriety. 

^ Caligula. 

^ Claudius invaded Britain in the year of Rome TQGj^ 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



153 



Aulus Plaiitius, the first consular g-over^ 
nor, and his successor Ostorius Scapula 
were both eminent ior military abilities. 
Under them, the nearest part of Britain 
>vas gradually reduced into the form of a 
province, and a colony of veterans ' was 
settled. Certain districts were bestowed 
upon king Cogidunus, a piince who con- 
tinued in perfect fidelity within our own 
memory. This was done agreeably to the 
ancient and long established practice of 
the Romans, to make even kings, the 
instruments of servitude. Didius Galius, 
the next governor, preserved the acqui- 
sitions of his predecessors, and added a 
very few fortified posts in the remoter part^, 
for the reputation of enlarging his province. 
Veranius succeeded, but died within the 
year. SuetoniusPaullinusthen commanded 
with success for two years, subduing va- 
rious nations, and establishing garrisons. 
In the confidence with which this inspired 

* In the parish of Dind^r^ near llerefortl, are y€t 
remaining the vestiges of a Roman encampment, called 
Oyster-hill, as is supposed from this Ostorius. Camdc^.i's 
£ritan, by Gibson, p. 5S0. 

^ That of Camulodunum; now Colchester. 



156 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



him, he undertook an expedition against 
the island Mona % which had furnished the 
revolters with supplies ; and thereby ex- 
posed the settlements behind him to a 
surprize. 

For the Britons, relieved from present 
dread by the absence of the governor, be- 
gan to hold conferences, in which they 
painted the miseries of servitude^ compared 
their several injuries, and mutually in- 
flamed each other with such representations 
as these. ' That the only effects of their 
' patience were more grievous impositions 
upon a people who submitted with such 
^ facility. Instead of their former sub« 
' jection to a single king, they now groaned 
' under a double yoke, that of the governor, 
' who tyrannized over their persons, and 
^ of the procurator, who lorded it over their 
Vproperties ^ ; whose union or discord' 

^ The Mona of Tacitus is the isle of Anghsea ; that 
of C^sar is the isle of Man, called by Pliny Monapia* 

The avarice of Catus Decidianns the procurator is 
mentioned as the cause by which the Britons were forced 
into this war, by Tacitus, Annal, xiv. 32. 

® Julius Classicianus, who succeeded Decidlanus, was 
at variance with the governor, but was no less oppressive 
to the province* 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 157 



^ wasequallv fatal to those subjected to thcQ], 
' while the officers of the one, and the cen- 

* turion^ of the other, joined in oppressing 
' them by all kinds of violence and con- 

* tumely ; so that nothing remained unvio- 
^ lated by their lust and rapine In battle 
' it was the strongest who were the pil- 
' lagers; but those whom thetf suflfered to 
^ seize their houses, force away their chil- 
^ dren, and exact levies, were, for the most 
' part, the cowardly and effeminate; as if 
^ the only lesson of suffering of which they 
' were ignorant was how to die for their 
' country. Yet how inconsiderable would 

* the number of invaders appear, did the 

* Britons but compute their own forces ? 
' From considerations like these, Germany 

* had thrown off the yoke % though a river \ 
' and not the ocean was its barrier. The 
' welfare of their country, their wives and 
' their parents called them to arms, while 
' avarice and luxury alone incited their 

* enemies ; who would retire as even the 

* deified Julius had done, if the present 

* race of Britons would emulate the valour 
^ of their ancestors, and not be dismayed 

^ By the slaughter of Varus. 
' The Rhine and Danube. 
P 



158 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA, 



^ at the event of the first or second en- 
gagement. Superior spirit and perse- 
* verance were always the share of the 
' wretched ; and the gods themselves now 
^ seemed to compassionate the Britons, by 
^ ordaining the absence of the general, and 
^ the detention of his army in another 
' island. The most difficult point, assem- 
^ bling lor the purpose of deliberation, was 
^ already accompHished ; and there was 
^ always more danger from the discovery 
^ of designs like these, than from their 
^ execution/ 

Instigated by such suggestions, they 
unanimously rose in arms, led by Boa- 
dicea ^, a woman of royal descent, (for 
they make no distinction between the 
sexes in succession to the throne) and 
attacking the soldiers dispersed through 
the garrisons, stormed the fortified posts, 
and invaded the colony ^ itself, as the seat 
ot slavery : nor was any species of cruelty 

" Boadicea, whose name is variously written Bou* 
dicea, Bonduca, Voadicea, &c. was queen of the Iceni, 
or people of Suff^'alk, Norfolk^ Cambridgeshire, and 
Huntingdonshire. A particular account of this revolt 
is given in Tacitus's Annals ^ xiv. 31 and seq, 

® Of CaiHulodunmii. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 159 

omitted by the barbarians which rage and 
victory could inspire. And had not Paul- 
linus, on being acquainted with the com- 
motion of the province, marched speedily 
to its relief, Britain would have been lost. 
The fortune of a single battle, however, 
reduced it to its former subjection ; though 
many still remained in arms, whom the 
consciousness of revolt, and particular 
dread of the governor had driven to despair. 
For Paullinus, although otherwise exem- 
plary in his administration, treated those 
who surrendered with asperity ; and pur- 
sued rigorous measures, as if he was taking 
revenge for a personal injury. He was 
therefore superseded by Petronius Tur- 
pilianus, who was more inclined to lenity^ 
and being unacquainted ^ith the enemy's 
delinquency, could more easily accept their 
penitence. After having attempted nothing 
further than to quiet the present commo- 
tions, he delivered the command to Tre- 
bellius Maximus. Trebellius, indolent, 
and inexperienced in military affairs, main- 
tained the tranquillity of the province by 
allability and condescension ; for even the 
barbarians had now learned to pardon the 
aerreeable and soothing vices; and the 
i>2 



160 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



intervention of the civil wars also apolo- 
gized for his inactivity. Sedition however 
infected the soldiers, who, instead of their 
usual military services, were rioting in 
idleness. Trebellius, after escaping the 
fury of his army by flight and concealment,^ 
dishonoured and abased, regained a pre- 
carious authority ; and a kind of mutual 
stipulation took place, of safety to the gene- 
ral, and licentiousness to the army. This 
mutiny was not attended with bloodshed. 
Vettius Bolanus, succeeding during the 
continuance of the civil wars, was unable 
to introduce discipline into Britain. The 
same inaction towards the enemy, and the 
same insolence in the camp continued ; 
except that Bolanus, irreproachable in his 
private conduct, and not obnoxious by any 
crime, in some measure substituted affec- 
tion in the place of authority. 

At length, when Vespasian received the 
possession of Britain together with the rest 
of the world, the great commanders and 
well appointed armies which were sent 
over abated the confidence of the enemy ; 
and Petilius Cerealis struck terror by an 
attack upon theBrigantes % who are reputed 

^ The Brigantes inhabited Yorkshire^ Lancashirex 
Westmoreland^ Cumberland^ and Durham^ 



i 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 161 



to compose the most populous state in the 
whole province. Many battles were fought, 
some of them attended with much blood- 
shed ; and the greater part of the Brigantes 
were either brought into subjection, or 
involved in the ravages of war. The con-^ 
duct and reputation of Cerealis were so 
brilliant that they might have eclipsed the 
splendour of a successor ; yet Julius Fron- 
tinus, a truly great man, supported the 
arduous competition, as far as circumstances 
would permit. He subdued the strong and 
warlike nation of the Silures % where 
besides the valour of the enemy, he had 
the difficulties of the country to struggle 
with. 

This was the state of Britain, and this 
bad been the series of military transactionSj 
when Agricola arrived in the middle of 
summer ^ ; at a time when the Roman 
soldiers, supposing the expeditions of the 
year were concluded, were attending solely 
to their security ; and the natives were 
intent upon improving the opportunity. 

^ Where these people inhabited is mentioned in 
p. 147, note 3. 

6 This was in the year of Rome 831 ; of Christ, 78, 
p3 



162 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



Not long before his arrival, the Ordovices ^ 
had rut off almost an entire division of 
cavalry stationed in their frontiers ; an 
event which excited the attention of the 
whole province, they who were impatient 
for war approving the example, while the 
rest waited to discover the disposition of 
the new governor. The season was now 
far advanced, the troops dispersed through 
the country, and possessed with the idea 
of being suffered to remain inactive during 
the rest of the year ; circumstances which 
tended to retard and discourage any mili- 
tary enterprize ; so that it was generally 
thought most advisable to be contented 
with defending the suspected posts : yet 
Agricola determined to march out and 
meet the approaching danger* For this 
purpose, he drew together the detachments^ 
from the legions, and a small body of 
auxiliaries ; and when he perceived that 
the Ordovices would not venture to de- 
scend into the plain, he led an advanced 
party in person to the attack, in order to 
inspire the rest of his troops with an ardour 

7 Inhabitants of iVor^A Wales, exclusive of the isle 
of Anglesea^ 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



163 



equal to the danger. The result of the 
action was almost the total extirpation of 
the Ordovices : when Agricola, sensible 
of the advantage of pursuing the reputation 
he had acquired, and that the future events 
of the war would be determined by the 
first success, resolved to make an attempt 
upon the island Mona, from the possession 
of which Paullinus had been summoned 
by the general rebellion of Britain, aj^ 
before related \ The usual deficiency of 
an unforeseen expedition appearing in the 
want of transport vessels, the conduct and 
resolution of the general were exerted to 
supply this defect. A select body of auxi- 
liaries, disencumbered of their baggage, 
who were well acquainted with the fords, 
and accustomed, after the manner of their 
country, to direct their horses and manage 
their arms while swimming \ were ordered 
suddenly to plunge into the channel ; by 

® A pass into the vale of CIvvyd, in the parish of 
Llanarmon,is still called Bwlch Agrikle, probably from 
having been occupied by Agricola, in his road to Mona. 
Mr. Pennant, 

9 From this circumstance it would appear that these 
auxiliaries were Batavians, whose skill in this practice 
is related by Tacitus, Hht, iv. 12, 



164 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



which movement, the enemy, who expected 
the arrival of a fleet, and a formal invasion 
by sea, were struck with terror and astonish^ 
ment, conceiving nothing arduous or insu- 
perable to troops who thus advanced to 
the attack. They were therefore induced 
to sue for peace, and make a surrender of 
the island ; while Agricola obtained uni- 
versal reputation, since on the very entrance 
upon his province, at a time which is 
usually devoted to ostentatious parade, and 
the compliments of office, he had chosen 
to engage in toils and dangers. Nor was 
he tempted, in the pride of success, to term 
that a victory, which was only bridling a 
vanquished enemy ; nor even to dignify 
his exploits with the honour of the laurel' • 
But even this concealment of his glory 
served to augment it ; since men were led 
to entertain a high idea of the grandeur 

^ It was customary for the Roman generals to deco- 
rate with sprigs of laurel the letters in which they 
sent home news of any remarkable success. Thus 
Pliny, XV. 30. " The laurel, the principal messenger of 
joy and victory among the Romans, is affixed ta 
letters, and to the spears and javelins of the soldiers.'* 
The laurus of the ancients was probably the bay-tree^ 
and not what we now call laurel. 



THE LiFE GF AGRICOLA. 165 



of his future vie^vs, when such important 
services were passed over in silence. 

Well acquainted with the temper of the 
province, and taught by the experience of 
former governors how little proficiency had 
been made by arms, when success was 
followed by injuries, he next undertook to 
eradicate the causes of war. And begin-^ 
ning with his own family, he first laid 
restrictions upon his domestics, a task no 
less arduous to most governors than the 
management of the province. He suf- 
fered no public business to pass through 
the hands of his slaves or freed-men. In 
advancing the soldiery - to attendance about 
his person, he w^as not influenced by private 
assiduities, or the recommendation of the 
centurions, but considered the most vir- 

* The expression in the original *^ milites adscire''' 
is not very clear, and might bear the import of pro- 
moting the soldiers in general. But besides the singu- 
larity of the phrase in this view, the sense 1 have given 
it will be rendered more probable, both by what is said 
in the preceding sentence of Agrlcola*s not employing 
slaves, and by the following passage from IJIpian, 
Digest, Lib. i. tit. 16. None of the proconsuls can 
" have their own equerries ; but instead of them, the 
" soldiery in the province must be employed in this 

office.^' 



166 THE LIFE OF AGftlCOLA. ^ 

tuous as likely to prove the most faithful. 
He would be informed of every thing ; but 
did not treat every thing with particular 
Dotice He could pardon small faults, 
and use severity to great ones ; yet did not 
always punish, but was frequently satisfied 
with penitence. He chose rather to confer 
offices and employments upon such as 
ivould not offend, than to condemn those 
who had offended. The augmentation * 
of tributes and contributions he mitigated 
by a just and equal assessment, abolishing 
those private exactions which were more 
grievous to be borne than the taxes them- 
selves. For the inhabitants had been com- 
pelled in an insolent and contemptuous 
manner to attend at the granaries where 

3 In like manner Suetonius says of Julius Caesar, 
He neither woticed nor punished every crime ; but 
^'^ while he strictly inquired into and rigorously punished 
*^ desertion and mutiny, he connived at other delinquen- 
*^ cies." F. Juliii Ixvii. 

Many commentators propose reading* " exaction'^ 
instead of augmentation." But the latter may be 
suffered to remain, especially as Suetonius informs us 
that Vespasian, not contented with renewing some 
taxes remitted under Galba, added new and heavy 
ones ; and augmented the tributes paid by the 
provinces, even doubling some." Vesp. xvi. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 167 



their own corn was locked up, which they 
were obliged to sell and buy again at a 
stated price. Long and difficult journies 
had also been enjoined them ; for the 
several districts, instead of being allowed 
to supply the nearest military quarters, 
were forced to carry their corn to remote 
and devious places ; by which means, w^hat 
was easy to be procured by all, was con- 
verted into an article of gain to a few 
individuals. 

By suppressing these abuses in the first 
year of his administration, he established 
a favourable idea of peace, which through 
the negligence or connivance of his prede- 
cessors had been no less dreaded than war. 
At the return of summer ^ he assembled his 
army. On their march, he commended the 
regular and orderly, and restrained the strag- 
glers ; he marked out the encampments % 
and explored in person the testuaries ^ and 

' ' hi the year of Rome 832, A. D. 79. 
^ Many vestiges of these or other Roman camps yet 
remain in different parts of Great Britain. Two prin- 
cipal ones, in the county of Annandale in Scotland, 
called Burnswork and Middleby, are described at large 
by Gordon in his Itiner, Septcntrion, p. 16 and 18. 
The expressive term cestuary has been frequently 



168 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



forests. At the same time he perpetuaMy 
harassed the enemy bv sudden mcursions; 
and after sufficiently alarming- them, by an 
interval of forbearance he held to their view 
the allurements of peace. Bv this manage- 
ment, many states, which till that time had 
asserted their independence, were now in- 
duced to lay aside their animosity, and to 
deliver hostages. These districts were sur- 
rounded with castles and forts, disposed 
with so much attention and judgment, that 
no part of Britain, hitherto new to the Ro- 
man arms, escaped unmolested. 

The succeeding winter was employed in 
the most salutary measures. In order, by 
a taste of pleasures, to reclaim the natives; 
from that rude and unsettled state which j 
prompted them to war, and reconcile them 
to qniet and tranquillity, he incited them, 
by private instigations and public encou- 
ragements, to erect temples, courts of jus- 
tice, and dwelling-houses. He bestowed 

used in the Latin signification by Mr. Pennant, to sig- 
nify the wide mouths of rivers, which are ford able or 
very shallow at low water, but resemble arms of the sea 
at high tides. Such, on the western coast, are those of 
the Decy the Mersey^ the Ribble, Morecambe B«yy and 
Solway Firth. 



i 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 169 



rommendatioiisupon those who were prompt 
in coLDplying* with his intentions, and re- 
primanded such as were dilatory ; thus 
promoting a spirit of emulation which had 
all the force of necessity. He was also 
attentive to provide a liberal education for 
the sons of their chieftains, preferring* the 
natural geninsof the Britons, to the studied 
accjuirements of the Gauls ; and his at- 
tempts were attended with such success, 
that they who lately disdained to make use 
of the Roman language, vvere now ambi- 
tious of becoming eloquent. Hence the 
Roman habit began to be held in honour, 
and the toga ^vas frequently worn. At 
length they gradually deviated into a taste 
for those luxuries which stimulate to vice ; 
porticos, and bagnios, and the elegancies 
of the table : and this, from their inex- 
perience, they termed politeness, whilst, 
in reality, it constituted a part of their 
slavery. 

The military expeditions of the third 
year ^ laid open a ucav tract of country to 
the Romans, and their ravages extended 
as far as the eestuary of the Tay The 

^ The year of Rome 833, A. D. SO, 
Now the Jirth of Tay, 
Q 



370 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



enemies were thereby struck with such 
terror that they did not venture to molest 
the army, though harassed by violent tem- 
pests; so that they had sufficient oppor- 
tunity for the erection of fortresses'. 
Persons of experience remarked that no 
general had ever shown greater skill in the 
choice of advantageous situations, than 
Agricola ; for not one of his fortified posts 
was either taken by storm, or forced to 
surrender, or abandoned as iodefencible. 
The garrisons made frequent sallies ; for 
they were secured against a blockade by a 
yearns provision in their stores. Thus the 
winter passed without alarm, and each 
garrison proved sufficient for its own de- 
fence ; while the enemy, who were gene- 
rally accustomed to repair the losses of the 
summer by the success of the winter, now 
equally unfortunate in both seasons, were 
baffled and driven to despair. In these 
transactions, Agricola never attempted to 
arrogate to himself the glory of others; 

^ The principal ef these was at Ardock, seated so as 
*o command the entrance into two vallies, Strathallan 
and Slrathearn. A description and plan of its remains, 
s^in in good preservation, are given by Mr, Pennant in 
Ms Tour in Scotland in 1772, Part ii. p, IGL 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



171 



but always bore an impartial testimony to 
the meritorious actions of his officers, from 
the centurion to the commander of a legion. 
He was represented by some as rather 
harsh in reproof ; as if the same disposition 
which made him affable to the deserving, 
had inclined him to austerity towards the 
worthless. But his anger left no relics^ 
behind ; his silence and reserve were not 
to be dreaded ; and he esteemed it more 
honourable to show marks of open dis- 
pleasure, than to entertain secret hatred. 

The fourth summer^ was spent in 
securing the country which had been over- 
run ; and if the valour of the army, and 
the glory of the Roman name had permitted 
it, our conquests would have found a limit 
within Britain itself. For the tides of the 
opposite seas, flowing very far up the 
jestuaries of Clota and Bodotria % almost 
intersect the country ; leaving only a narrow 
week of land, which was then defended by 
a chain of forts*. Thus all the territory 

2 The year of Rome 834, A.D. 81. 

^ Tlne^rths of Cli/de and Forth. 
The neiik of land between these opposite arms of 
th^ sea is only about thirty miles over. About fifty-five 
years after Agricola had left the island, Lollius Urbicus, 



172 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



on this side was held in subjection, and the 
remaining enemies were removed, as it 
were, into another island. 

In the fifth campaign % Agricola, cross- 
ing over in the first ship % subdued, by 
irequentandsuccessful engagements, several 
nations till then unknown ; and stationed 

governor of Britain under Antoninus Pius, erected a 
vast wall or rampart, extending from Old Kirkpatrich 
on lh€ Clyde^ or Caeridden^ two miles west Abercorny 
on the Forth ; a space of near thirty-seven miles, 
defended by twelve or thirteen forts. These are sup- 
posed to have been on the site of those of Agricola. 
This wall is usually called Graham's dike ; and some 
parts of it are now subsisting. A noble canal from the 
Forth to the Clyde now making will, when completed, 
actually render the country beyond it another island ; 
though by a beneficial exertion of the arts of peace, 
instead of the jealous policy of a conqueror^ 

' The year of Rome 835, A. D. 62. 

^ Crossing ihe firth of Clyde, or Dumbarton bay^ 
and turning to the Western coast of Argyleshire, or the 
isles of Arran and Bute. Perhaps,, however, Tacitus 
has erroneously connected Agricola's crossing in a 

ship," with his establishing posts in that part of Scot- 
land opposite to Ireland ; since the nearest land to that 
island is Wigton in Galloway^ to which he might 
advance without crossing any channel or firth, and which 
lies at the extremity of a tract of country much more 
tempting to a conqueror than the barren hills of 
Argyleshire. J. A, 



THE LIFE OF AGKICOLA. 173 

troops in that part of Britain which is 
opposite to Ireland, rather with a view ot 
future advantage, than from any appre- 
hension of revolt. For the possession of 
Ireland, situated between Britain and Spain, 
and lying commodiously to the Gallic sea, 
would have formed a very beneficial con- 
nection between the most powerful parts 
of the empire. This island is less than 
Britain, but larger than those of our sea 
Its soil, climate, and the manners and dis- 
positions of its inhabitants are little different 
from those of Britain. Its ports and har- 
bours are better known, from the concourse 
of merchants for the purposes of commerce. 
Agricola had received into his protection 
one of its petty kings, who had been ex- 
pelled by a domestic sedition ; and detained 
him under the semblance of friendship, 
till an occasion should offer of making use 
of him. I have frequently heard him assert, 
that a single legion and a few auxiliaries 
would be sufiicient entirely to conquer 
Ireland and keep it in subjection. Such an 
event would also have been serviceable in 
our attempts against the Britons, by awing 



7 The Mediterranean, 

q3 



174 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



them with the prospect of the Romarr arms 
all around, and as it were, banishing liberty 
from their view. 

In the summer which began the sixth 
year' of Agricola's administration, extend- 
ing his views to the countries situated 
beyond Bodotria % as a general insurrec- 
tion of theremoter nations was apprehended, 
and the roads were thought to be rendered 
unsafe by the enemy's army, he caused the 
harbours to be explored by his fleet, which 
had from the first been employed as an 
occasional assistance, and now, while the 
war was at once pushed on by sea and 
land, made an advantageous impression by 
its appearance. The cavalry, infantry, and 
marines were frequently mingled in the 
same camp, and recounted with mutual 
pleasure their several exploits and dangers; 
comparing, in the boastful language of 
military men, the dreary wilds of woods 
and mountains, with the horrors of waves 
and tempests ; and the land and the enemy 
subdued, with the conquered ocean. It 

8 The year of Rome 836, A. D, 83. 

^ The Eastern parts of Scotland, north of the firih 
of Forth ; where now are the counties of Fife^ Kinross^ 
Per thy Angus i &c. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 175 



was also discovered from the captires that 
the Britons had been struck with conster- 
nation at the view of the fleet, conceiving 
the last refuge of the vanquished to be cut 
off, now the secret recesses of their seas 
were disclosed. The various inhabitants 
of Caledonia immediately took to arms, 
with great preparations, but augmented by 
report, as usual where the truth is not 
known ; and by beginning hostilities and 
attacking our fortresses, they inspired 
terror as daring* to act offensively : inso- 
much that some persons, disguising their 
timidity under the mask of prudence, 
advised instantly retreating on this side the 
firth, and relinquishing the country rather 
than waiting to be driven out. Agricola, 
in the mean time, being mformed that the 
enemy intended to bear down in several 
bodies, distributed his army into three 
divisions, that his inferiority of numbers, 
and ignorance of the country, might not 
give them an opportunity of surrounding 
him. 

When this was known to the er^emy, 
they suddenly changed their design, and 
making a general attack in the night upoa 



176 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



the ninth legion, which was the weakest \ 
in the confusion of sleep and consternation 
they slaughtered the centinels, and burst 
through the entrenchments. They were 
now fighting within the camp, when Agri- 
cola, who had received information of their 
march from his scouts, and followed close 
upon their track, gave orders for the 
swiftest of his horse and foot to charge the 
enemy's rear. Presently the whole army 
raised a general shout ; and the standards 
now glittered at the approach of day. 
The Britons were distracted by opposite 
dangers ; whilst the Romans in the camp 
resumed their courage, and secure of 
safety, began to contend for glory. They 
now in their turns rushed forwards to the 
attack, and a furious engagement ensued 
in the gates of the camp ; till by the emu- 
lous efforts of both Roman armies, one to 
give assistance, the other to appear not to 
require it, the enemy was routed : and had 

^ This legion, which had been weakened by mmy 
engagements, was afterwards recruited, and then called 
Gemina, Its station at this affair is supposed by Gordon 
to have been Lochore in Fifeshire, Mr. Pennant, as 
will hereafter be mentioned, rather imagines the place 
of the fittack to have been Comerie in Perthshire. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 177 



not the marshes and forests protected the 
fugitives, that day would have terminated 
the war. 

The soldiers, elated with the honour 
acquired by this victory, fiercely exclaimed,, 
that ' nothing could resist their valour ; 
' now was the time to penetrate into the 
' heart of Caledonia, and by a continued 
' series of engagements, at length to dis- 
' cover the utmost limits of Britain and 
those who had before recommended caution 
and prudence, were now rendered rash and 
boastful by success. It is^ the hard con- 
dition of military command, that a share 
in prosperous events is claimed by ail, but 
misfortunes are imputed to one alone. 
The Britons too, attributing their defeat 
not to the superior bravery of their adver- 
saries, but to accident, and the skill of the 
general, remitted nothing of their confi- 
dence ; but proceeded to arm their youth, 
to send their wives and children to places 
of safety, and to ratify the confederacy of 
their several states by solemn assemblies 
and sacrifices. Thus the parties separated 
with minds mutually inflamed and irritated. 

During the same summer, a cohort of 



178 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



Usipii % which had been levied in Ger- 
many, and sent over into Britain, per- 
formed an extremely daring and remarka- 
ble action. After murdering a centurion 
and some soldiers who had been embodied 
with them for the purpose of instructing 
them in military discipline, they siezed 
upon three light vessels, and compelled 
the masters to go on board with them. 
One of them however escaping, they killed 
the other two upon suspicion ; and before 
the affair was publicly known, they sailed 
away, as it were by miracle. They were 
presently driven at the mercy of the waves; 
and had frequent engagements with various 
success with the Britons, who defended 
their property from plunder. At length 
they were reduced to such extremity of 
distress as to be obliged to feed upon each 
other ; the weakest being first sacrificed, 
and then such as were taken by lot. In 
this manner having sailed round the island, 
they lost their ships through want of skill ; 
and, being taken for pirates, were inter- 

* For an account of these people see the foregoing 
Treatise, p. 81, 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA, 



179 



cepted, first by the Suevi, then by the 
Frisii. Some of them, after being sold 
for slaves, by the change of masters were 
brought to our sicl€ of the river ' , and became 
notorious from the relation of their ex- 
traordinary adventures \ 

In the beginning of the next summer % 
Agricola received a severe domestic wound 
in the k)ss of a son, about a year old. He 
bore this calamity not with the ostentatious 
firmness which many great men have af- 
fected, nor yet with the tears and lamenta- 
tions of feminine sorrow ; and war was one 
of the remedies of his grief. Having sent 
forwards his fleet to spread its ravages 
through various parts of the coast, in order 
to excite an extensive and dubious terror, 

2 The Rhine, 

* This extraordinary expedition, according to Dio, 
set out from the \Yestern side of the island. They 
therefore must have coasted all that part of Scotland, 
must have passed the intricate navigation through the 
Hebrides, and the dangerous strait of Pentland Jirthy 
and after coming round to the Eastern side, must have 
been driven to the mouth of the Baltic sea. Here 
they lost their ships ; and in their attempt to proceed 
homeward by land, were siezed as pirates, part by the 
Suevi, and the rest by the Frisii. 

^ The year of Rome 837, A, D. 84. 



180 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



he marched with an army equipped for 
expedition, to which he had joined the 
bravest of the Britons, whose fidehty had 
been approved through a long peace ; and 
arrived at the Grampian hills, where the 
enemy was already encamped ^. For the 

^ The sinerve of this celebrated engagement is by 
Gordon fitin, Septent.J supposed to be in Stratherriy 
near a place now called the Kirk of Comerie, where are 
the remains of two Roman camps. Mr. Pennant, 
however, in his Tour in 1772, Part ii. p. 96, gives 
reasons which appear well founded for dissenting from 
Gordon's opinion. His account is as follows. Near 
this place f ComerieJ on a plain of some extent, is 
the famous camp which Mr, Gordon contends to have 
been occupied by Agricola, immediately before the 
battle of Mons Grampius ; and to which, in order to 
support his argument, ke gives the name of Galgackan^ 
" as if derived from Galgacus, leader of the Caledo- 
" nians, at that fatal engagement. This camp lies 
*^ between the river of Earn and the little stream called 
the Rtichel : and on a plain too contracted for such a 
" number of combatants, as Tacitus say* there was, to 
form and to act in, or for their charioteers or cavalry 
to scour the field. There are indeed small hills at the 
foot of the greater, where the British forces might 
have ranged themselves before the battle : but the 
distance from the sea is an insuperable argument 
*^ against this being the spot, as we are expressly 
" informed that Agricola sent his iieet before, in order 
to distract and divide the attention of the enemy ; and 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 181 



Britons, undismayed by the event of the 
former action, expecting revenge or slavery, 

that he himself marched with his army till he arrived 
at the Grampian moiuitain, where he found Galo^acus 

" encamped. From the whole account given by Tacitus, 
it should be supposed, that action was fought in an 
open country, at the foot of certain hills, not in a 

*^ little plain amidst defiles, as the vallies about Comerie 
consist of." Mr. Pennant then goes on to shew the 

greater probability of its having been the station in 

which the ninth legion was attacked, as before related. 

He observes that " — in the general insurrection of that 
gallant people in the sixth year of Agricola's command, 

•* he divided his army into three parts ; one might be at 
Ardoch ; the other at Strageth; the third or the 
ninth legion might be sent to push up the defiles of 
Comerie, in order to prevent the enemy from sur- 

'* rounding him, or taking advantage of their knowledge 
of the country, or his inferiority of numbers. His; 
three divisions lay so near, as to enable them to assist 

" each other in case of an attack. The Caledonians 
naturally directed their force agains* the weakest of 
the three armies, the ninth legion, which probably 
had not fully recovered the loss it sustained in the 
bloody attack by Boadicia. The camp also was weak, 

* being no more than a common one, such as the Romans 
' flung up on their march. It has no appearance of ever 

* having been stative ; and it is probable that as soon as 
^ Agricola had, by an expeditious march, relieved this 

* part of his army out of a difficulty they were fairly 

* involved in, he deserted the place; and never ha- 
' zarded his troops again amidst the narrows of this 

* hostile country.'' J. A. 

R 



182 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



and at length taught that the common dan- 
ger was to be repelled by union alone, had 
summoned the strength of all their tribes 
by embassies and confederacies. Upwards 
of thirty thousand men in arms were now 
descried ; and the youth, together with 
those of a hale and vigorous age, renowned 
in war, and bearing their several honorary 
decorations, were still flocking in ; when 
Calgacus % the most distinguished for 
birth and valour among the numerous 
chieftains, is said to have harangued the 
assembled multitude, eager for battle, after 
the following manner. 

' When I reflect oo the causes of the 
' war, and the circumstances of our situa- 
^ tion, 1 feel a strong persuasion that our 
^ united efforts on the present day will 
' prove the beginning of universal liberty 
^ to Britain. For none of us are hitherto 
' debased by slavery ; and there is no land 
' behind us, nor is even the sea secure, 
' whilst the Roman fleet hovers around, 
' Thus the use of arms, which is at all 
' times honourable to the brave, now offers 
' the only safety even to cowards. All the 

7 The more usual spelling of this name is Galgacus ; 
bat the other is preferred as of better authority. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 183 

' battles which have yet been fought with 
' various success against the Romans, had 
' their resources of hope and aid in our 
' hands ; for we, the noblest inhabitants of 
' Britain, and therefore stationed in its 
' deepest recesses, far from the view of 
' servile shores, have preserved even our 
' eyes unpolluted by the contract of 
- subjection. We, at the farthest limits 
' both of land and liberty, have been de- 
' fended to this day by the remoteness of 
' our situation and of our fame. The ex- 
' tremity of Britain is now disclosed ; and 
' whatever is unknown becomes an object 
' of importance. But there is no nation 
' beyond us ; nothing but waves and rocks, 
' and the still more hostile Romans, whose 
' arrogance we cannot escape by obsequi- 
' ousness and submission. These plun- 
' derers of the world, after exhausting the 
' land by their devastations, are rifling the 
' ocean : stimulated by avarice, if their 
' enemy be rich ; by ambition, if poor : 
* unsatiated by the East and by the West : 
' the only people who behold wealth and 
' indigence with equal avidity. To ravage, 
^ to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, 
h2 



184 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



^ they call empire ; and where they make 
' a desart, they call it peace ^ 

' Our children and relations are by the 
' appointment of nature rendered the 
' dearest of all things to us. These are 
' torn away by levies to serve in foreign 
' lands ^ Our wives and sisters, though 
' they should escape the violation of hostile 
' force, are polluted under names of friend- 
' ship and hospitality. Our estates and 
' possessions are consumed in tributes ; 
' our grain in contributions. Even our 
' bodies are worn down amidst stripes and 
' insults in clearing woods and draining 
' marshes. Wretches born to slavery are 
' once bought, and afterwards maintained 
' by their masters : Britain every day buys, 
* every day feeds her own servitude \ And 

s Peace given to the world, is a very frequent in- 
scription on the Roman medals. 

^ It was the Roman policy to send the recruits raised 
in the provinces to some distant country, for fear of their 
tiesertion or revolt. 

1 How much this was the fate of the Romans them- 
selves, when, in the decline of the empire, they were 
obliged 10 pay tribute to the surrounding barbarians, 
is shewn in lively colours by Salvian. We call that 

a gift which is a purchase, and a purchase of a con- 
** dition the most hard and miserable. For all captives^ 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 185 



* as among domestic slaves every new 
' comer serves for the scoro and derision 
' of his fellows; so. in this ancient house- 
' hold of the world, we, as the newest and 
' vilest, are sought out to destruction. For 
' we have neither cultivated lands, nor 
' mines, nor harbours, which can induce 
' them to preserve us for our labours. The 
' valour too and unsubmitting spirit of 

* subjects only renders them more ob- 

* noxious to their masters; while remoteness 
^ and secrecy of situation itself, in propor- 
' tion as it conduces to security, tends to 
' inspire suspicion. Since then all hopes 

* of forgiveness are vain, let those at length 
' assume courage, to whom safety, as well 

* as to whom glory is dear. The Trino- 
' bantes, even under a female leader, had 
' force enough to burn a colony, to storm 

* camps, and if success had not introduced 
' negligence and inactivity, would have 
' been able entirely to throw off the yoke ; 
' and shall not we, untouched, unsubdued, 
' and struggling not for the acquisition, 

" when they are once redeemed, enjoy their liberty : 
" we are continually paying a ransom, yet are never 
free." JDe Gubern, Dei, vi. 

k3 



186 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



' but the continuance of liberty, shew at 
' the very first onset what men Caledonia 
' has reserved for her defence ? 

' Can you imagine that the Romans are 
' as brave in war as they are licentious in 
' peace ? Acquiring renown from our dis- 
' cords and dissentions, they convert the 
^ errors of their enemies to the glory of 
' their own army ; an army compounded 
^ of the most different nations, which as 
' success alone has kept together, misfortune 
' will certainly dissipate. Unless, indeed, 
^ you can suppose that Gauls, and Ger- 

* mans, and (I blush to say it) even Britons, 
who though they lavish their blood to 

' establish a foreign dominion, have been 

* longer its foes than its subjects, will be 
^ retained by loyalty and affection ! Terror 
^ and dread alone are their weak bonds of 
' attachment ; which once broken, they who 
^ cease to fear will begin to hate. Every 
' incitement to victory is on our side. The 
^ Romans have no wives to animate them ; 

* no parents to upbraid their flight. Most 
^ of them have either no home, or a distant 
^ one. Few in number, ignorant of the 
^ country, looking around in silent horror 
^ at woods, seas, and a heaven itself un- 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 187 



* known to them, they are delivered by the 
' gods, as it were imprisoned and bound, 
' into our hands. Be not terrified with an 
^ idle shew, and the glitter of silver and 
' gold, which can neither protect nor wound. 
' In the very ranks of the enemy we shall 
' find our own bands. The Britons will 
' acknowledge their own cause. The Gauls 

* will recollect their former liberty. The 
' rest of the Germans will desert them, as 

* the Usipii have lately done. Nor is there 
' any thing formidable behind them : Un- 
' garrisoned forts ; colonies of old men ; 
' municipal towns distempered and dis- 
' tracted between unjust masters, and ill 
' obeying subjects. Here is a general ; here 
' an army. There, tributes, mines, and all 
' the trainof punishments inflicted on slaves; 
' which, whether to bear eternally, or in-- 
' stantly to revenge, this field must deter- 
' mine. March then to battle, and think of 
' your ancestors and your posterity.^ 

They received this harangue with alacri- 
ty, and testified their applause after the 
barbarian manner, with songs, and yells, 
and dissonant shouts. And now the several 
divisions were in motion, and the glittering 



188 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



of arms was beheld, whilst the most daring- 
and impetuous were hurrying to the front, 
and the two armies were forminsf in line 
of battle ; when Agricola, although his 
soldiers were full of ardour, and scarcely 
to be kept within their inlrenchments, 
thought proper thus to address them. 

' It is now the eighth year, my fellow^ 
^ soldiers, in which under the high auspices 
' of the Roman empire, by your valour and 
^ perseverance you have been conquering- 
' Britain. In so many expeditions, in so 
^ many battles, either your courage against 
' the enemy, or your patient labours against 
' the very nature of the country, have been 
^ exercised ; neither have 1 ever been dis- 
' satisfied with my soldiers, nor you with 
' your general. In this mutual confidence, 
' we have proceeded beyond the limits of 
' former commanders and former armies ; 
' and are now become acquainted with the 
' extremity of the island, not by uncertain 
' rumour, but by actual possession with 
' our arms and encampments. Britain is 
' discovered and subdued. How often, on 
' a march, when embarassed with moun- 
' tains, bogs and rivers, have I heard the 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 189 

^ bravest among you exclaim, ''When shall 
' we descry the enemy, when shall we be 
' led to the field of battle?" At length 
^ thev are unharboured from their retreats ; 
' your wishes and your valour have now 
* free scope ; and every circumstance is 
' equally propitious to the conqueror, and 
' ruinous to the vanquished. For the 
' greater our glory in having marched over 
' vast tracts of land, penetrated forests, and 
' crossed arms of the sea, while advancing 
' towards the foe, the greater will be our 
^ danger and difficulty if we should attempt 
' a retreat. We are inferior to our ene- 
' mies in knowledge of the countr}^ and 
' less able to command supplies of pro- 
' vision ; but we have arms in our hands, 
' and in these w e have every thing. For 
' myself, I have long since determined, that 
' neither the army nor general should find 
' their safety in flight. Not only then are 
' we to reflect that death with honour is 
' preferable to life with ignominy ; but to 
' remember that security and glory are 
' seated in the same place. Even to fall in 
' this extremest verge of earth and of na- 
' ture cannot be thought an inglorious 
' fate, 



190 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



' If unknown nations or untried troops 
' were drawn up against you, I would exhort 
' you from the example of other armies. 
' At present, recollect your own honours, 
' question your own eyes. These are they 
' who, the last year, attacking by surprise 
' a single legion in the obscurity of the 
' night, were put to flight by a shout : the 
' greatest fugitives of all the Britons, and 

* therefore the longest survivors. As in 

* penetrating woods and thickets, the fiercest 
' animals boldly rush on the hunters, 
' while the weak and timorous fly at their 
' verv noise ; so the bravest of the Britons 

* have long since fallen : the remaining 

* number consists solely of the cowardly 
' and spiritless ; whom you see at length 
' within your reach, not because they have 
^ stood their ground, but because they are 
' overtaken. Torpid with fear, their bodies 
' are fixed and chained down in yonder 
' field, which to you will speedily be the 
' scene of a glorious and memorable victory. 

* Here bring your toils and services to a 
^ conclusion ; close a struggle of fifty years ^ 

^ The expedition of Claudius into Britain was in the 
year of Rome 796, from which to the period of this 
engagement only forty-two years were elapsed. The 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 191 



* with one great day ; and convince your 
' countrymen that to the army ought not 
' to be imputed either the protraction of 
' the war, or the causes of rebellion/ 

Whilst Agricola was yet speaking, the 
ardour ot the soldiers declared itself ; and 
as soon as he had finished, they burst forth 
into cheerful acclamations, and instantly 
flew to arms. Thus eager and impetuous, 
he formed them so that the centre was 
occupied by the auxiliary infantry, in num- 
ber eight thousand, and three thousand 
horse were spread in the wings. The 
legions were stationed in the rear, before 
the entrenchments; a disposition which 
would render the victory signally glorious, 
if it were obtained without the expense of 
Roman blood ; and would ensure assist- 
ance if the rest of the army were repulsed. 
The British troops, for the greater display 
of their numbers, and more formidable 
appearance, were ranged upon the rising 
grounds, so that the first line stood upon 
the plain, the rest, as if linked together, 
rose above one another upon the ascent. 

number fifty therefore is given oratorically rather than 
accurately. 



192' 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



The charioteers ' and horsemen with their 
tumult and careering filled the middle of 
the field. Then Agricola, fearing from 
the superior number of the enemy lest he 
should be obliged to fight as well as on his 
flanks as in front, extended his files; and 
although this rendered his line of battle 

^ The Latin word used here, covinarius, signifies the 
driver of a covinus, or chariot, the axle of which was 
bent into the form of a scythe. The British manner of 
fighting from chariots is particularly described by 
Caesar, who gives them the name of esseda, ''The 
following is the manner of fighting from the essedcs* 
•' They first drive round with them to all parts of the 
'* line, throwing their javelins, and generally disordering 
the ranks by the very alarm occasioned by the horses, 
" and the rattling of the wheels : then as soon as they 
have insinuated themselves between the troops of 
horse, they leap from their chariots, and fight on 
foot. The drivers then withdraw a little from the 
battle, in order that, if their friends are overpowered 
by numbers, they may have a secure retreat to the 
*' chariots. Thus they act with the celerity of horse 
*' and the stability of foot ; and by daily use and exercise 
they acquire the power of holding up their horses at 
*' full speed down a steep declivity, of stopping them 
*^ suddenly, and turning in a short compass; and they 
accustom themselves to run upon the pole, and stand 
^* on the cross tree, and from thence with great agility 
to recover their place in the chariot,'* Bell. GalL 
iv, 33. 



THE LIFE OF AGRItOLA. 



193 



le.^ firm, and several of his officers advised 
him to bring- up the legions, yet, filled Vrith 
hope, and resolute in danger, he dismissed 
his horse, and took his station on foot before 
the colours. 

The attack beg^n yvith eng*aging at a 
distance. The Britons, armed ^vith long 
swords and short targ^ets % with steadiness 
and dexterity avoided or sti'uck down our 
missile weapons, and at the same time poured 
in a torrent of their own. Agricola then 
encouraged three Batavian and two Tun- 
grian * cohorts to fall in and come to clase 
quarters ; a method of fighting familiar to 
these veteran soldiers, but embarassing to 
the enemy from the nature of their armour ; 
for the enormous British s^vords, blunt at 
the point, are unfit for close grappling, and 
eng^aging in a confined space. ^Vhen the 
Batavians, therefore, began to redouble their 
blows, to strike with the bosses of their 

* These taro^ets, called cetrcE in the Latin, were made 
of leather. The broad sword and target are still, or 
were till very lately, the peculiar arms of the High- 
landers. 

^ Several inscriptions have been found in Britain 
commemorating the Tungrian cohorts. 

9 



391 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



sliields, and mangle the faces of the enemy ; 
and bearing down all those who resisted 
them on the plain, were advancing their line 
up the ascent ; the other cohorts, fired with 
ardour and emulation, joined in the charge, 
and overthrew all who came in their way : 
and so great was their impetuosity in the 
pursuit of victory, that they left many of 
their foes half dead or unhurt behind them. 
In the mean time the troops of cavalry took 
to flight, and the armed chariots mingled in 
the engagement of the infantry ; but although 
their first shock occasioned some consterna- 
tion, they were soon entangled among the 
close ranks of the cohorts and the inequalities 
of the ground. This had not the least ap^ 
pearance of an engagement of cavalry ; since 
the men, long keeping their ground with 
difficulty, were forced along with the bodies 
of the horses ; and frequently, straggling 
chariots, and affrighted horses without their 
riders, flying variously as terror impelled 
them, overthrew such as met them or crossed 
their way ^ 

^ The great conciseness of Tacitus has rendered the 
description of this battle somewhat obscure. The fol- 
lowing, however, seems to have been the general (bourse 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 195 



Those of the Britons who, yet disengaged 
from the fight, sat on the summits of the 
hills, and looked with careless contempt on 
the smallness of our numbers, now began 
gradually to descend ; and would have fallen 
on the rear of the conquering troops, had 
not Agricola, apprehending this very event, 
opposed four reserved squadrons of horse to 
their attack, which the more furiously they 
had advanced, drove them back with the 
greater celerity. Their project was thus 

of occurrences in it. The foot on both sides began the 
engagement. The first line of the Britons which was 
formed on the plaiin being broke, the Roman auxiharies 
advanced up the hill after them. In the mean time the 
Roman horse in the wings, unable to withstand the 
phock of the chariots, gave way, and were pursued by 
the British chariots and horse, which then fell in among 
the Roman infantry. These, who at first had relaxed 
their files to prevent their being out-fronted, now 
closed, in order better to resist the enemy, who by this 
means were unable to penetrate them. The chariots 
and horse, therefore, became entangled amidst the 
inequalities of the ground, and the thick ranks of the 
Romans : and no longer able to wheel and career as 
upon the open plain, gave not the least appearance of 
jin equestrian skirmish ; but keeping their footing with 
difhculty on the declivity, y/ere pushed ofi', and scattered 
xa disorder over the field. 

s 



196 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOIA. 



turned against themselves ; and the squadrons 
ivere ordered to wheel from the front of the 
battle and fall upon the enemy's rear. A 
striking and hideous spectacle now apr 
peared on the plain ; some pursuing ; some 
striking ; some making prisoners, whom they 
slaughtered as others came in their way. 
Now, as their several dispositions prompted, 
crowds of armed Britons fied before inferior 
numbers, or a few, even unarmed, rushed 
upon their foes, and offered themselves to 
a voluntary death. Arms, and carcasses, 
and mangled limbs were promiscuously 
strewed, and the field was dyed in blood. 
Even among the vanquished were seen iu^ 
stances of rage and valour. When the 
fugitives approached the woods, they col- 
lected, and surrounded the foremost of the 
pursuers, advancing incautiously, and unac- 
quainted with the country. And had not 
Agricola, who was every where present, 
caused some strong and lightly equipped 
cohorts to encompass the ground, while part 
of the cavalry dismounted made way through 
the thickets, and part on horseback scoured 
the open woods^ some loss would have pro- 
ceeded from the excess of coafidence. But 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 197 

when the enemy saw their pursuers again 
disposed in regular ranks, they reneweil 
their flight, not in bodies as before, or wait- 
ing for their companions, but scattered and 
mutually avoiding each other ; and thus 
took their way to the most distant and de-- 
vious retreats. Night, and satiety of slaugh- 
ter put an end to the pursuit. Of the 
enemy ten thousand were slain: on our 
part three hundred and sixty tell ; among 
whom was Aulus Atticus, the prefect of 
a cohort, who by his juvenile ardour and 
the fire of his horse was borne into the 
midst of the enemy. 

Success and plunder contributed to 
render the night joyful to the victors ; 
whilst the Britons, wandering and forlorn^ 
amid the promiscuous lamentations of men 
and women, were dragging along the 
wounded ; calling out to the unhurt 
abandoning their habitations, and in the 
rage of despair setting them on fire ; 
choosing places of concealment, and then 
deserting them ; consulting together, and 
then separating* Sometimes, on beholding 
the dear pledges of kindred and affection,, 
they were melted into tenderness, or more 
s3 



198 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



frequently roused into fury ; insomuch 
that several, as we were certainly informed, 
instigated by a savage compassion, used 
violence against their own wives and chil- 
dren. The succeeding day, a vast silence 
ail around, desolate hills, the distant smoke 
of burning houses, and not a living soul 
descried by the scouts, displayed more 
amply the face of victory. After parties 
had been detached to all quarters without 
discovering any certain tracksof theenemy V 
flight, or any bodies of them still in arms^ 
as the lateness of the season rendered it 
impracticable to spread the war through 
the country, Agricola led his army to the 
confines of the Horesti \ Having received 
hostages from this people, he ordered the 
commander of the fleet to sail round the 
island, for which expedition he was fur- 
nished with sufficient force, and preceded 
by the terror of the Roman name. He 
himself then led back the cavalry and 
infantry, marching slowly, that he might 
impress a deeper awe on the newly con- 
quered nations ; and at length distributed 
Jbis troops into their winter quarters. The 



People of Fifeshire. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 199 



fleet, about the same time, with prosperous 
gales anH renown, entered the Trutulen- 
sian ® harbour, from whence, coasting all 
the hither shore of Britain, it returned 
without loss to its former station 

The account of these transactions, al-^ 
though unadorned with the pomp of words 
in the letters of Agricola, was received by 
Domitian, as was customary with that 
prince, with outward expressions of joy, 
but inward anxiety. He was conscious 
that his late mock-triumph over Germany', 
in which he had exhibited purchased slaves, 
whose habits and hair ^ were contrived to 

» Supposed to be Sandwich haven ; also called 
Rutupensis, or Rulupious. This port is celebrated as 
the landing place of St. Augustine, the apostle o£ 
Britain. 

5 This circumnavigation was in a contrary direction 
to that of the Usipian deserters, the fleet setting out 
from ihejirth ofTay on the Eastern coast, and sailing 
round the Northern, Western, and Southern coasts, till 
it arrived at the port of Sandwich in Kent. After 
staying here sonae time to refit, it went to its fornoer 
station, in the firth of Forth, or Tay. 

* It was in this same year, that Domitian made his 
pompous expedition into Germany, from whence he 
returned without ever seeing the enemy. 

' Caligula in like manner got a number of tall mea 



200 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLI. 



give them the resemblance of captives, was 
a subject of derision ; whereas here, a real 
and important victory, in which so many 
thousands of the enemy were slain, was 
celebrated with universal applause. His 
greatest dread was that the name of a pri- 
vate man should be exalted above that of 
the prince. In vain bad he silenced the 
eloquence of the forum, and cast a shade 
lapon all civil honours, if military glory wa^ 
still in possession of another. Other ac- 
complishments might more easily be con-^ 
Bived at, but the talents of a great general 
were truly imperial. Tortured with such 
anxious thoughts, and brooding over them 
in secret *y a certain indication of some 
malignant intention, he judged it most 
prudent for the present to suspend his ran- 
cour, till the first career o{ glory, and the 
affections of the army should remit: for 
Agricola still possessed the command in 
Britain. 

with their hair dyed red to give credit to a pretended 
victory over the Germans. 

* Thus Pliny in his Panegyric on Trajan^ xlviii. 
represents Domitian as " ever affecting darkness and 
" secrecy, and never emerging from bi& solitude but in 

order to make a solitude." 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 201 



He therefore caused the senate to decree 
him triumphal ornaments^ a statue crowned 
with laurel, anrl all the other honours which 
are substituted to a real triumph, together 
with a profusion of complimentary ex- 
pressions ; and also directed an expectation 
to be raised that the province of Syria, 
vacant by the death of Atilius Rufus, a 
consular man, and usually reserved for 
persons of the greatest distinction, was 
designed for Agricola. It was commonly 
believed, that one of the freed-men who 
were entrusted with secret services was 
dispatched with the instrument appointing 
Agricola to the government of Syria, with 
orders to deliver it if he should be still in 
Britain ; but that this messenger, meeting 
Agricola in the straits*, returned directly 
to Domitian without so much as accosting 

* Not the triumph itself, which, after the year of 
Rome 740, was no longer granted to private persons, 
but reserved for the imperial family. This new piece 
of adulation was invented by Agrippa in order to gratify 
Augustus. The triumphal ornaments" which were 
still bestowed, were a peculiar garment, a statue, and 
other insignia which had distinguished the person of th^ 
triumphing general. 

* Of Dover. 



202 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



him. Whether this was really the fact, or 
only a fiction founded on the genius and 
character of the prince, is uncertain. Agri- 
cola, in the mean time, had delivered the 
province, in peace and security, to his 
successor ^ ; and lest his entry into the city 
should be rendered too conspicuous by the 
concourse and acclamations of the people, 
he declined the salutations of his friends 
by arriving in the night; and went by 
night, as he was commanded, to the 
palace. There, after being received with 
a slight embrace, but not a word spoken, 
he was mingled with the servile throng. 
In this situation, he endeavoured to soften 
the glare of military reputation, which is 
offensive to those who themselves live ir^ 
indolence, by the practice of virtues of a 
different cast. He resigned himself to ease 
and tranquillity, was modest in his garb and 
equipage, affable in conversation, and in 
public was only accompanied by one or two 
of his friends ; insomuch that the many, 

* Agricola's successor in Britain appears to have 
been Saluslius Lucullus, who, as Suetonius informs us» 
was put to death by Domitian because he permitted cer*. 
tain lances of a new construction to be called Luculleani^ 

F. Domit» X, 



THE LIFE 0? AGRICOLA. 203 



yvho are accustomed to form their ideas of 
great men from their retinue and figure, 
when the\ hehehJ Agricola were apt to call 
in question his renown : few could interpret 
his conduct. 

He was frequently, during that period, 
accused in bis absence before Domitian, 
and in his absence also acquitted. The 
source of his danger was not any criminal 
action, nor the complaint of any injured 
person ; but a prince hostile to virtue, and 
his own high reputation, and the worst kiii^.d 
of enemies, those who praised him \ For 
the public circumstances of the time which 
ensued were such as would not permit the 
name of Agricola to rest in silence : so many 
armies in Moesia, Dacia, Germany, and 
Pannonia were lost through the temerity or 
cowardice of their generals ^ ; so many men 

^ Of this worst kind of enemies, who praise a man 
in order to render him obnoxious, the emperor Julian, 
who had himself suffered jjreatly by them, speeks feel- 
ingly in bis 12lh epistle to Basilius. For we live 
** together not in that state of dissimulation which, i 

imagine, you have hitherto experienced; in which 
** those who praise you, hate you with a more confirmed 
** aversion than your most inveterate enemies." 

« These calamitous events are recorded by Suetonius 
in his Life of Domitian, 



204 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 

of military character, with numerous co- 
horts, were defeated and taken prisoners ; 
whilst a dubious contest was maintained, 
not for the boundaries of the empire, and 
the banks of the bordering* rivers \ but for 
the winter quarters of the legions, and the 
possession of our territories In this state 
of affairs, when loss succeeded loss, and 
every \ear was signalized by funerals and 
slaughters, the public voice loudly demanded 
Agricola for general ; every oi^e comparing 
his vigour, firmness, and spirit well tried 
in war, with the indolence and pusillanimity 
of the others. It is certain that the ears of 
Domitian himself were wounded by such 
discourses, while the best of his freed-men 
pressed him to the choice through motives 
of fidelity and affection, and the worst 
through envy and malignity, emotions to 
which he was of himself sufficiently prone. 
Thus Agricola, as well by his own virtues, 
as the vices of others, was urged on pre- 
cipitously to glory. 

The year now arrived in which the pro- 
consulate of Asia or Africa must fall by lot 




® The Rhine and Danube. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 205 



Upon Agricola ^ ; and as Civica had lately 
been put to rleath, Agricola was not un- 
provided with a lesson, nor Domitian with 
an example \ Some persons, acquainted 
with the secret inclinations of the emperor, 
came to Agricola, and inquired whether he 
intended to go to his province ; and first, 
i^omewhat distantly, began to commend a 
life of leisure and tranquillity ; then offered 
their services in procuring him to be ex- 
cused from the office ; and at length, 
throwing oif all disguise, after using argu- 
ments both to persuade and intimidate 
hira, compelled him to accompany them to 
Domitian. The emperor, prepared to 
dissemble, and assuming an air of stateli- 
ness, received his petition for excuse, and 
suffered himself to be formally thanked ' 

' The two senior consulars cast lots for the goveru- 
ment of Asia and Africa. 

* Suetonius relates that Civica Cerealis was put to 
death in his proconsulate of Asia, on the charge of 
meditating a revolt. V, Domit, x. 

^ Obliging persons to return thanks for an injury 
was a refinement in tyranny frequently practised by the 
worst of tl»e Roman emperors. Thus Seneca informs 
us that '* Caligula was thanked by those whose children 
" had been put to death, and whose property had been 

confiscated." Dc Tranquil x\v. And again, The 
T 



206 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



for granting it, without blushing at so in- 
vidious a favour. He did not, however, 
bestow on Agricola the salary * usuaUy 
offered to a proconsul, and which he him- 
self had granted to others; either taking 
offence that it wns not requested, or feeling 
a Consciousness that it would seem a pur- 
chase of what he had in reality extorted by 
his authority. It is a principle of our na- 
ture to hate those whom we have injured * ; 
and Domitian was constitutionally inclined 
to anger, which was the more difficult to 
be averted, in proportion as it was the more 
smothered in secret. Yet he was softened 
by the temper and prudence of Agricola; 
who did not think it necessary, by a con- 
tumacious spirit, or a vain ostentation of 

*^ reply of a person who had grown old in his attendance 
on kings, when he was asked, how he had attained 
a thing so uncommon in courts as old age ? is well 
known. It was, said he, by receiving injuries, and 
returning thanks." /ra, ii. 33. 

* From a passage in Dio, Ixxviii. p. 899, this sum 
appears to have been decies sestertium^ about £9000. 
sterling* 

* Thus Seneca. *« Little souls rendered insolent by 
prosperity have this worst property, that they hate 
those whom they have injured.*' De Ira, ii. S3. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 207 



liberty, to challenge fame or urge his fate ^ 
Let those be apprized, who are accustomed 
to admire every thing forbidden, that even 
under a bad prince men may be truly great ; 
that submission and modesty, if accom- 
panied with vigour and application, will 
elevate a character to a height of public 
estimation, equal to that which many, 
through abrupt and dangerous paths, have 
attained^ without benefit to their country^ 
by an ambitious death. 

His decease was a severe affliction to h\B 
family, a grief to his friends, and was not 
unfelt even among foreigners, and those 
who had no personal knowledge of him \ 
The common people too, though little 
interested in public concerns, were frequent 
in their inquiries at his house during his 
sickness, and made him the subject of 
conversation at the forum and in private 
circles ; nor did any person either rejoice at 

^ Several who sufFered under Nero and Domitiaa 
erred, though nobly, in this respe<^t. 

^ A Greek epigram still extant of Antiphilus a 
Byzantine, to the memory of a certain Agricola, is 
supposed by the learned to refer to the great man who 
is the subject of this work. It is m the Antkclogia, 
Lib. I Tit. 37. 

T 2 



208 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



the news of his death, or speedily forget if. 
Their commiseration was aggravated by a 
prevailing report that he was taken off by 
poison. I cannot venture to affirm any 
thing certain of this matter^; yet, during 
the whole course of his illness, the princi- 
pal of the imperial freed-men and the most 
confidential of the physicians were sent 
much more frequently than is customary 
in courts, w^liere visits are chiefjy paid by 
BQessages, whether out of real regard, or 
for the purposes of state inquisition. On 
the day of his decease, it is certain that 
accounts of his approaching dissolution 
were every instant transmitted to the em- 
peror by couriers stationed for the purpose ; 
and no one believed that the information 
which so much pains was taken to accelerate, 
could be received with regret. He put on, 
however, in his countenance and demean- 
our, the semblance of grief ; for he was 
BOW secured from an object of hatred, and 
could more easily conceal his joy than his 
fear. It was well known that on reading 
the will, in which he was nominated coheir 

» Dio absolutely afilrms it ; but from the manner in 
which Tacitus, who had better means of information^^ 
speaks of it, the story was probably false* 



THE LIFE OF AGBICOLA. 209 



ifith the excellent Mife and most dutiful 
daughter of Agricola, he expressed great 
satisfaction, as if it had been a voluntary 
testimony of honour and esteem : so blind 
and con^upt had his mind been rendered 
by continual adulation, that he was ignorant 
none but a bad prince could be appointed 
heir to a good father. 

Agricola was born in the ides of June, 
during the third consulate of Caius Csesar: 
he died in his fifty-sixth year, on the tenth 
of the calends of September, when Collega 
and Priscus were consuls ^ Posterity may 
wish to form an idea of his person. His 
figure was rather proper and becoming* 
than majestic. In his countenance there 
was nothing to inspire dread ; but his 
looks were extremely gracious and en- 
gaging. You would readily have believed 
him a good man, and willingly a great one. 

* According to this account, the birth of Agricola 
was on June 13th, in the year of Rome 793, A. D. 40 ; 
and his death on August 23rd, in the year of Rome 846, 
A.D. 93: for this appears by the Fasti Consulares 
to have been the year of the consulate of Collega and 
Prificas. He was therefore only in his fifty-fourth year 
when he died ; so that the copyists must probably have 
written by mistake LVI instead of LIV. 

T 3 



210 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



And indeed, although he was snatched 
away in the midst of a vigorous age, yet if 
his life be measured by his glory, it was a 
period of the greatest extent. For after 
the full enjoyment of all that is truly good, 
which is found in virtuous pursuits alone, 
decorated with consular and triumphal 
ornaments, what more could fortune con- 
tribute to his elevation ? Immoderate wealth 
did not fall to his share, yet he possessed 
decent affluence \ His wife and daughter 
surviving, his dignity unimpaired, his repu-- 
tation flourishing, and his kindred and 
friends yet in safety, it may even be thought 
ail additional felicity that he was thus with- 
drawn from impending evils. For, as we 
feave heard him express his wishes of con- 
tinuing to the dawn of the present au- 
apicious day, and beholding Trajan in the 
imperial seat, wishes in which he formed 
a certain presage of the event ; so he con- 
sidered it as a great consolation of his pre- 
msiture end, to^ have escaped that latter 
period, in which Domitian, not by intervals 
and remissions, but by a continued, and, as 

^ From this representation, Dio appears to have been 
■'*taken in asserting that Agricola passed the latter 
in dishonour and penury. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 2H 



it were a single act of violence, was to de- 
stroy the vitals of the commonwealth 

Agricola did not behold the senate house 
besieged, and the senators enclosed by a 
circle of arms ' ; and in one havock the 
massacre of so manv consular men, the 
flight and banishment of so manv honour- 
able w^omen. As yet Carus Metius * was 

* Juvenal breaks out in a noble strain of indignation 
against this savage craelty which distinguished the 
latter part of Domitiau's reign. 

Atqae utinam his potius nuj^s tota ilia dedisset 
Tcmpora ssBvitiae: claras quibus abstuHt tJrbi 
lUustresque animas impune, et vindice nuUo. 
Sed periit, postquam cerdonibus esse timendttA 
C<sp«rat ; hoc Docuit Lamiarium caede madenti. 

Sat. iv. 150. 

What folly tbia ! but oh! that all the rest 

Of his dire reign had thus been spent in Jest I 

And all that time snch trifles had employM 

la which so many nobles he destroyed ! 

He safe, they unrereng'd, to the disj^race 

Of the surrivinfif, tame, Patrician race \ 

B«t when he dreadful to the rabble gre^r, 

Him, who so many lords had slain, they slew. I>€KE. 

» This happened in the year of Rome 848. 
^ Cams and Mas^^a^ who were proverbially infamous 
as informers, are represented by Juvenal as dreading a 
more dangerous villain, lleliodorus. 

Qaen MaAsa timet, quem muDere pal pat 
rams. Sat. i. 36. 

^VH«m Massa dread?, whom Carus sooths with hribM, 



212 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA 



distinguished only by a single victory ; the 
coimsels of Messalinus * resounded only 
through the Albanian citadel^; and Massa 

Carus is also mentioned with deserved infamy by Pliny 
and Martial. He was a mimic by profession, 

5 Of this odious instrument of tyranny, Pliny the^ 
younger thus speaks. *' The conversation turned upon^ 
Catullus Messalinus, whose loss of sight added thei 
evils of blindness to a cruel disposition. He was 
rc irreverent, unblushing, unpitying. Like a weapot), 
"of itself blind and unconscious, he was frequently 
*^ hurled by Domitian against every man of worth." 
iv, 22, Juvenal launches the thunder of invective 
against hira in the following lines, 

Et cum mortifero prudens Vejento Catullo, 

Qm numquam visae ilagrabat amore puellse^ 

Grande, et conspicuumnostroqiioque tempore monstrum^ 

CcECiis adulator, dirusque a ponte satelles^ 

Dagnus Aricinos qui mendicaret ad axes, 

Blaodaque devexae jacl aret ba&ia rhedae. SAT. iv. 1 13* 

Ciianinii^ Vejento next, and by his side 

Bloody Catullus leaning on his guide, 

Decrepit, yet a furious lover he, 

And deeply smit with charms he could not see. 

A monster, thai ev'n this worst age outvies^ 

Conspicuous and above the common size 

A blind base flatterer; from some bridge or gAjte, 

BaisM to a murdVing minister of state. 

Deserving still to beg upon the road, 

Aud bless each passing waggon and its load. DVKJSi 

^ This was a famous villa of Domitian's, near the 
site of the ancient Alba, about twelve miles from Rome. 
The place is now called Albano, and vast ruins of its 
magnificent edifices still remain. 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 213 



Bsebius' was himself among the accused. 
Soon after, our own hands ^ led Helvidius^ 
to prison ; ourselves were tortured with the 
^^pectacle of Mauricus and Rusticus S and 

' Tacitus, in his History, mentions this Massa 
Baebius as a person most destructive to all men of 
worth, and constantly engaged on the side of villains. 
From a letter of Pliny*s to Tacitus, it appears that 
Herenaius Senecio and himself were joined as counsel 
for the province of Bcetica in a prosecution of Massa 
Baebius; and that Massa after his condemnation pe- 
titioned the consuls for liberty tp prosecute Senecia 
for treason, 

• By *' our own hands,*' Tacitus means one of our 
own body, a senator. As Publicius Certus had seized 
upon Helvidius and led him to prison, Tacitus imputes, 
the crime to the whole senatorian order. To the same 
purpose Pliny observes, " Amidst the numerous vil- 

lainies of numerous persons, nothing appeared more 
atrocious, than that in the senate-house one senator 
•* should lay hands on another, a praetorian on a consular 
** man, a judge on a criminal.'' B. ix. Ep, 13. 

• Helvidius Priscus, a friend of Pliny the younger, 
who i\d not suffer his death to remain unrevenged. 
See the Epistle above referred to. 

' There is in this place some defect in the manu- 
scripts, which critics have endeavoured to supply in 
different manners, Brotier seems to prefer, though he 
does not adopt in the text, " nos Mauricum Rusticumque 
•* divisimus," ** we parted Mauricus and Rusticus,'' 
by the death of one and the banishment of the other. 
The prosecution and erime of Rusticus (Arulenus) is 



214 THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. 



sprinkled with the innocent blood of Se- 
iiecio\ Even Nero withdrew his eyes 
from the cruelties he commanded. Under 
Domitian, it was the principal part of our 
miseries to behold and to be beheld : when 
our sighs were registered ; and that stem 
countenance, with its settled redness % his 
defence against shame, was employed in 
notingthe pallid horror of so many spectators*. 
Happy, O Agricola ! not only in the splen- 
dour of your life, but in the seasonableness 
of your death. With resignation and cheer- 
fulness, from the testimony of those who 
were present in your last moments, did you 
meet your fate, as if striving to the utmost 
of your power to make the emperor appear 
guiltless. But to myself and your daughter^ 

mentioned in the beginning of this piece, p. 127. Mau- 
ricus was his brother. 

* Herennius Senecio. See p. 127. 

* Thus Pliny in his Panegyr; on ZVa/aw^ xlviii.. 
♦* Domitian was terrible even to behold; pride in his 
*^ brow, anger in his eyes, a feminine paleness in the 

rest of his body, in his fsce shamelessness suffused in * 
a glowing red.'' Seneca in Epist, xi. remarks, i\mt 
** Some are never more to be dreaded than when they 
"blush; as if they had effused all their modesty. 
" Sylla was always most furious when the blood had^* 
mounted into his cheeks/' 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA. ^15 



besides the anguish of losing a parent, the 
aggravating affliction remains, that it was 
not our lot to watch over vour sick bed, to 
support > oil when fainting, and to satiate 
ourselves with beholding and embracing 
you. V\ ith what attention should w^e have 
received your last instructions, and engraven 
them on our hearts ! Fhis is our sorrov^^ ; 
this is our wound : to us you were lost 
four years before by a tedious absence. 
Every thing, doubtless, oh best of parents ! 
was administered for your comfort and 
honour, while a most affectionate wife sat 
beside you ; yet fewer tears were shed upon 
your bier, and in the last light which your 
eyes beheld, something was still wanting. 

If there be any habitation for the shades 
of the virtuous; if, as philosophers suppose, 
exalted souls do not perish with the body ; 
may you repose in peace, and call us, your 
household, from vain regret and feminine 
lamentations, to the contemplation of your 
virtues, which allow no place for mourning 
or complaining. Let us rather adorn your 
memorv bv our admiration, bv our short- 
lived praises, and, if our natures will per- 
mit, by an imitation of your character. 
This is truly to honour the dead ; this is 



216 



THE LIFE OF AGRICOLA« 



the piety of every near relation. I would 
also recommend it to the wife and daughter 
of this great man, tci shew their veneration 
of a husbancrs and a father's memory by 
revolving" his actions and words in their 
breasts, and endeavouring to retain an idea 
of the form and features of his mind, rather 
than of his person. Not that I would rg'ect 
those resemblances of the human figure 
which are engraven in brass or marble ; 
t?iit as their originals are frail and perish- 
able, so likewise are they ; while the form 
of the mind is eternal, and not to be retainec( 
or expressed by any foreign matter, or the 
artist's skill, but by the manners of the sur- 
vivors. Whatever in Agricola was the 
object of our love, of our admiration, re- 
mains, and will remain in the minds of 
men, transmitted in the records of fame, 
through an eternity of years. For while 
many great personages of antiquity will be 
involved in a common oblivion with the 
mean and inglorious, Agricola shall sur- 
vive, represented and conv^ed to future 
ages. 



INDEX. 



N. B. All Asterisk affixed to a number denotes the 
article to be in the notes. 



J^DULTERY, haw punished by the Germans, p. 50, 
illstii, 115. 
Agnation, what, 53*. 

Agricola, Cnseus Julius, his birth, 130. education, 132. 
first military services, 134. marriage, 135. questor- 
sbip, 136. tribuneship, 137. prsetorship, ibid, ap- 
pointment to an inquest concerning offerings to the 
temples, ibid. The murder of his mother, 138. De- 
clares for Vespasian, 139. Appointed to the command 
of the 20th legion, ibid. Serves in Britain, 140. 
Called to the patrician order, 141. Made governor 
of Aquitania, ib. His civil administration, ib. 
Created consul, 143. Marries his daughter to Ta- 
citus, ib. Made governor of Britain, ib. His arrival 
there, IGl. Defeats the Ordovices, 163. Reduces 
Mona, ib. His civil administration, 165. second 
campaign, 167. third campaign, 169. Penetrates to 
the Tay, ib. His skill in the erection of fortresses, 
170. fourth campaign, 171. fifth campaign, 172. 
sixth campaign, 174. Defeats the Caledonians in 
their attack on the 9th legion, 176. Loses his 
son, 179. His seventh campaign, ib. speech to his 
army at Mons Grampius, 188. Draws up his troops, 
191. Defeats the Caledonians, 194, et seq. Trium- 
phal honours decreed him, 201. Keturiis to Rome, 
202. His behaviour there, ib. Wishes of the public 
concerning him, 204. Named proconsul, but ex- 
cused from going to his province, 205. His pru- 
dent conduct, 206. death, 207. testament, 208. 
Description of his person, 209. 

U 




218 



INDEX. 



Alcis, a German divinity, 109, 
Ale and beer, by whom used, 61*. 
Amber, its origin and nature, 116*. 
An^li, 101. 
Angrivarii, 83. 
Antoninus, his wall, 172*. 
Aravisci, 73. 
Arii, 109, 110. 

Arolenus Rusticus, put to death by Domitian, 127, 
213. 

Assemblies, public, among the Germans, 31. 
Aulus Plautius, governor of Britain, 155, 
Avion es, 101. 

B. 

Bards, their songs, 7. 
Batavi, 74. 

Boadicea, her revolt, 158. 
Bodotria, estuary of, 171, 174. 
Boii, 72, lOG. 
Brigantes, 160. 

Britain, successive governors of, 140. Its situation, 
143. form, 144. First proved to be an island, 145. 
Nature of its sea and tides, 140. Its inhabitants, 
147. climate, 150. long days, ibid, soil and 
products, 151. metals, ib. pearls, 152, Roman 
transactions in, 153. 

Britons, their derivation, 147, 148. character, 149. 
military force, ib. government, ib. degree of sub- 
jection, 153. revolt under Boadicea, 156, et seq, 
adoption of Roman manners, 169. 

Bructeri, 82. 

Burgundians, 100** 

Burii, 107. 

C. 

Csesar, his victory over Ariovistus, 96*. 

Caledonians, whence derived, 147. their general re- 
volt, 175. attack on the 9th legion, ib. Assemble at 
the Grampian hills, 180. Their position, 191, De- 
feated, 194; et seq. 



INDEX. 



219 



Calgacus, general of the Caledonians, his speech, 1S2. 
Camalodunum, colony of, 135*. 
Carus Metius, an informer, 211. 
Catti, 77. 

Catullus Messalinus, an instrument of Domitian's 

cruelty, 212. 
Chariots, British, manner of fighting from, 392*. 
Chauci, 87. 
Chamavi, 83. 
Chasaurii, 85. 
Cherusci, 89. 

Chivalry, rudiments of, 37*. 

Cimbri, their dress and armour described, 15*. cruel 
manner of divination, 23*. origin, 91. defeat of 
Carbo, 93*. of Scaurus, 94*. of Csepio and Man- 
lius, ib. Defeated by Marius, 96*. 

Circumnavigation of Britain, by the Usipian deserters^ 
178. by the fleet of Agricola, 198. 

Claudius, emperor, his invasion of Britain, 154. 

Clota, estuary of, 171. 

Cogidunus, a British king, 155. 

Coin, debased, precautions against, 13*. Serrati and 

Bigati, what, ib. 
Companions, assisting in the distribution of justice, 37. 

of arms, 39. Their attachment to their chiefs, 40, 

Method of supporting, 42. 

D. 

Danube, its origin and course, 2. ' 

Decumate lands, 76. 

Denariatus, what, 66*. 

Didius Callus, governor of Britain, 155. 

Divination, methods of among the Germans, 29, et seq, 

Domitia Decidiana, wife of Agricola, 135. 

Domitian, his mock triumph over Germany, 199. anxi- 
ety concerning Agricola's success, 200. flatters him, 
201. manner of receiving him, 202. artifices to pre- 
vent him from going to his government, 205. Cru- 
elty of the latter part of his reign, 210, et seq> 

Dulgibini, 85. 

U 2 



220 



index; 



Elbe, rise of, 165. 
Elysii, 109. 
Eudoses, 101. 
Exchequer, origin of, 42*, 

F. 

Fenni, 120. 

Forurajulii, the birth-place of Agricola, 130» 
Fosi, 90. 

Framea, a German weapon, 14. 
Francic kagae, 81*. 
Freedman, what, 66*. 
Frisii, 85, 

Funerals, German, 69. expence of among the Romansj^. 
69*. 

G. 

Galgacus, see Calgacus. 

Gauls, their migrations into Germany, 71. 

Germans, supposed indigenous. 3. Unmixed with 
other nations, 10. Their constitution of body, ib\ 
commerce, 12. weapons and armour, 14, 15* ca- 
valry, 16. infantry intermixed with cavalry, 17. 
civil division, 18*, 36*. manner of fighting;', 18. 

. kings and chiefs, 19, 20. priests, punish offenders, 
20. women, influence of and respect paid to 23, et 
seq, religion, 24. divination and augury, 29, 30. 
public assemblies, 31, S3, computation of time, 32. 
punishments and fines, 34, 35. time of assuming 
arms, 37*, 38. manner of passing their time, 41. 
contributions, 42. way of building, 43. subterranean 
caves, 44. clothing, 45. matrimonial chastity, 48^ 
€t seq. presents to their wives, 48. filth and naked- 
ness, 54. continence of their youths, 55, rules of 
inheritance, 56. revenge, 57. hospitality, 58. bath- 
ing and meals, 60. feasts, ib, food and drink, 61, 
62, public spectacles, 63. habit of gaming, 64^ 
Condition of their slaves, 65. Manner of occupying 



INDEX. 



221 



their lands, 67, 68. Funerals, 69. Keep their 
boundaries desart, 75*. 

Germany, its boundaries, 1. Name of, whence derived, 
6, 7*. Soil and climate, 11. Cattle and other pro- 
ducts, 11, 12. 

Gothini, 107. 

Gothones, 110. 

Graham's dike, 172*. 

Grampian hills, battle of, where fought, 180*. descrip- 
tion of, 194, €t seq, 
Greek letters introduced into Gaul and Germany, 10*». 

Hellusii, 121. 
Helvecones, 109. 
Helvetii, 71. 

Helvidius Priscus, his apprehension, 213. 
Hercules, the German, 7. 

columns of in Frisia, 86. 

Hercynian forest, 77. 

Ilerennius Senecio, put to death by Domitian, 127% 
214. 

Hermunduri, 104. 

Herthum, goddess so called, her worship, 102^ 
Horesti, 198. 

Hospitality of the Germans, 58. 

Human sacrifices among the Germans, 26. 

Hundred-men, what, 18*. 

Huns, their remarkable spirit of gaming, 64*«. 

L 

Iceni, 158*. 

Intemelii in Liguria, 138. 
Inundations in Holland, 86*. 
Ireland, its situation, &c. 173. 
Isis, worshipped in Germany, 26. 
Julia Procilia, mother of Agricola, 132. 
Julius Frontinus, governor of Britain, 161. 
Julius Greecinus, father of Agricola, 131. 



222 



INDEX. 



Lemovii, 111. 

Lidi, Slaves so called, 65*. 

Lygii, 109. 

M. 

Majority, age of among the Germans, 55*. 
Manimi, 109. 
Mannus, son of Tuisto, 5. 
Marcomanni, 106. 

Marriage, strict among the Germans, 47. 
Marsigni, 107. 

Massa Bsebius, an informer, 211. 
Massilia, 133. 

Matrons, Roman, the part they took in education 

132*. 
Mattiaci, 75. 

Maurieus, his punishment, 213. 
Mercury, the principal deity of the Germans, 24, 
Mona, invaded by Suetonius PauUinus, 156. by Agri- 
cola, 163. 

N. 

Naharvali, 109. 
jVarisci, 106. 
JVemetes, 73.^ 
Nervii, 73. 
Nuithones, 101. 

a 

Orcades, 145. 

Ordovices, 162. their defeat, 163. 
Osi, 72, 107. 

Ostorius Scapula, governor of Britain, 155, 
Oxioni, 121. 

P. 

Pearls, British, 152. 

Petilius Cerealis, governor of Britain^ 140, I6O3.. 



INDEX. 



Petronius Turpilianus, governor of Britain, 159. 
Peucini, 118. 

Philosophers, expulsion of, 128. 

Plautius iEIianus, inscription in honour of, 2*. 

Praetor, his office, 137*. 

Procurators, imperial, what, 131*. 

Punishments among the Germans, 34, 35, 

Q. 

Quadi, 106, 

TL 

Religious rites of the Semnones, 99, 
Reudigni, 101. 
Rheno, a garment, 45*. 
Rhine, its origin and course, 2. 
Rugii, 111. 

Rulilius, Publius Rufus, writes his own life, 126. 
S, 

Sagum, a garment, 45*. 
Salic land, what, 44*, 56*. 

law, rules of inheritance of, 56*. 

Salvius Titianus, proconsul of Asia, 136. 
Scaurus, Marcus iEmilius, writes his own life, 126, 
Semnones, 99. their superstitious rites, ibid, 
Silures, whence derived, 147. 
Slaves, condition ot among the Germans, 65. 
Suardones, 101. 

Suetonius Paullinus, governor of Britain, 134, 155. 
Suiones, 111. rich temple of, 113*. 
Suevi, 98. 

T. 

Tay, estuary of, 169. 
Tencteri, 81. 
Thule, 145. 

Tigurine Gauls, their defeat of L. Cassius, 94*. 
Trebellius Maxinius, governor of Britain, 159* 



224 



INDEX. 



Treveri, 73, 
Triboci, 73. 

Trutulensian harbour, 199. 
Tuisto, a German deity, 5. 



TJbii, 73. 

Ulysses supposed to have touched on Germany, 9, 
Usipii, 81. 

Usipian deserters, their circumnavigation of Britain 
178. 



Yangiones, 73. 

Varini, 101. 

Varus, his defeat, 95*. 

Vassalage, origin of, 40*. 

Veleda, religious regard paid to, 24. 

Venedi, 119. 

Veranius, governor of Britain, 155. 

Vettius Bolanus, governor of Britain, 140, 160, 



Weapons, modern, analogous to ancient, 14*. 
Wedge of infantry, what, 18*. 
Writings burnt under Domitian, 128. 



W. 



THE END. 



Printed by C. B, Merry, 
Bedford, 






